Bengal flags fund crunch in midday meals, UP uncovers Rs 11-crore scam

West Bengal education minister Bratya Basu on Thursday sharply criticised the Narendra Modi government for what he described as “meagre and inadequate" funding for the mid-day meal scheme, claiming the Centre’s reluctance to allocate sufficient resources was affecting thousands of primary and upper-primary students.

Responding to concerns over how the state would sustain its decision to serve eggs and chicken twice a week amid rising prices, Basu said the government would “stick to the routine in every possible manner”.

He added that West Bengal had taken the decision to improve children’s nutrition “despite constraints” and was bearing additional costs from its own resources. “The Modi government is not serious about continuing the midday meal project in a proper way. Otherwise why such meagre allocation? They are virtually taking their hands off the project,” Basu alleged.

A senior official of the state’s mid-day meal project said West Bengal had earlier sanctioned an additional Rs 7,562.63 lakh to ensure that fish, chicken or eggs were served twice a week, resulting in an extra cost of Rs 4 per dish per student — “entirely borne by the state”.

He noted that the allocation of Rs 6.78 for each primary student and Rs 10.17 for each upper-primary student had become increasingly inadequate.

Chandan Maity, president of the West Bengal Headmasters’ Association, said schools were struggling to provide nutritious meals but “we cannot curtail a child’s simple nutritional requirement under any circumstances”. He said teachers and school committees often contributed from their own pockets to ensure children were not deprived.

Under existing norms, the Centre funds 60 per cent of the scheme while the state bears 40 per cent.

Midday meal scam in Uttar Pradesh

While West Bengal has raised concerns about under-funding, Uttar Pradesh on Thursday reported a major scam involving the same scheme. Police in Balrampur district said a fraud of nearly Rs 11 crore had been unearthed, leading to an FIR against 45 people and the arrest of five, including a village head, an assistant teacher and a headmaster.

The district basic siksha adhikari alleged that government records were manipulated by tampering with Excel sheets generated on the department’s IVRS portal, which tracks student enrolment.

These manipulated sheets were allegedly used to inflate allocations for select schools and reduce funds for others, while keeping the overall total unchanged to avoid detection.

Investigators said the extra funds transferred to favoured schools were withdrawn and shared among headmasters, village heads and school management committee presidents. Those arrested include Firoz Ahmad, headmaster Ashok Kumar, village head Naseem Ahmad, committee president Mohammad Ahmedul Qadri and assistant teacher Malik Munawwar.

Superintendent of police Vikas Kumar said more arrests are likely as the investigation continues.

With PTI inputs