Jajpur: Parents of many primary school students Friday alleged that free mid-day meal (MDM) rice, provided by government under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) with a purpose to supplement nutritional standing of the children, is being embezzled in at least nine districts of the state.
Irregularities worth lakhs of rupees has been reported, thanks to the dishonesty of transporters engaged in the daily shifting of the MDM rice directly from respective godowns to schools in Angul, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kandhamal, Kendrapara, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh districts.
According to a private source, the transport firms, who have been engaged by respective district administrations, usually emblezze around 10 to 15 kilogram of MDM rice per quintal. The unscrupulous act is conducted by the transporters midway, before the carrier vehicles reach their destinations.
As a result, children in the primary schools get only 2 kilogram of rice instead of the prescribed 3 kilogram per student in a month.
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Allegedly, some employees of the primary schools do have unholy nexus with the transporters. In such a situation, making complaints before the district administrations bring no end to the problem.
As many as 15,68,000 primary school students (including both upper and lower) in the state are supposed to be provided with the meal on all working days.
Accordingly, government has ordered Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC) Limited to supply 4435.63 metric tonnes of rice every month to schools in the nine districts.
More than 10 per cent of the grains out of total quantity of rice decided to be supplied in a month are taken out, the parents rued.
On the other hand, the Managing Director of OSCSC in Bhubaneswar Biswajeet Keshari Das Monday ordered the nine district civil supply officers (CSOs) to provide all primary schools with good quality rice, in his official letter to the CSOs.
Enhanced assistance money of Rs 73.00 per quintal will be provided to each of the primary schools by Union Ministry of Education towards miscellaneous expenses incurred with regard to the MDM, the official communique of OSCSC mentioned.
The OSCSC order also insisted that nutritious rice grains should be supplied to the schools as per the provisions envisaged in Prudent Movement Plan (PMP).
Besides, the Corporation has asked its respective CSOs to supply 345.57 quintals of rice for 1,21,702 primary school students in Angul, 554.68 quintals of rice for 1,94,154 students in Cuttack, 238.34 quintals of rice for 84,274 students in Jagatsinghpur, 580.52 quintals of rice for 2,04,426 students in Jajpur, 309.99 quintals of rice for 1,10,725 students in Kandhamal, 423.54 quintals of rice for 1,50,342 students in Kendrapara, 621.20 quintals of rice for 2,20,663 students in Keonjhar, 840.14 quintals of rice for 2,98,446 students in Mayurbhanj and 521.65 quintals of rice for 1,83,268 students in Sundargarh districts, under the MDM scheme.
On the promise of anonymity, several parents also said, “A number of primary schools have stopped providing cooked food to students. The parents have been collecting raw rice instead.”
Furthermore, some transporters replace the government supplied rice with low-quality rice picked up from open markets, some others manage to take out the foodgrain, the parents expressed.
If ever the parents complain the school authorities about shortages in the rice quantity, they are convinced saying that MDM rice is being distributed as per the quantity supplied by the transporters.
It is said that, tenders are being invited with the minimum upset price (MUP) for transportation fixed in between Rs 70 to Rs 100 per quintal. However, the transporters allegedly manage to obtain the work orders by quoting under value than MUP by 50 per cent.
When contacted, Jajpur district welfare officer (DWO) Subash Samal said, “If transporters concerned have been supplying lesser quantity of MDM rice, then why are the school authorities accepting it. However, we will take immediate step to prevent such misappropriation, if we receive any complaint in this regard from the parents.”
It is pertinent to mention, right to education (RTE) is a core area of welfare programmes of the Central government, which also covers the SSA. The MDM was introduced for sustenance of the school-going children and to attract them to schools as well.
The school meal programme is covered by the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 and was introduced in July 2021.
PNN