Implement CM breakfast scheme effectively, demands Revanth

Hyderabad: TPCC president Revanth Reddy shot an open letter to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on Saturday regarding implementation of his Breakfast Scheme for school students. In his letter, Revanth Reddy stated lack of basic facilities in the schools, non-payment of bills to mid-day meal workers, non-payment of cooking maintenance expenses as per increased prices, non-supply of gas cylinders, cooking on firewood stoves, is the way mid-day meal scheme was being implemented in the State. He said while the mid-day meal scheme is plagued with several issues, you are rushing to start CM’s breakfast scheme without paying attention to these issues.

He stated, “the mid-day meal scheme was facing many problems. If the prices in the market fluctuate, the government should increase the budget according to the increased prices. Kitchens in many schools are not proper and cooking was being done outside under the trees. There are cases where the mid-day meal is contaminated and the students fall ill.

“Your government has not paid attention when the midday meal workers for the past few days are doing protests to resolve their problems. Demands like release of increased salary, increase in budget for new menu, release of pending bills, immediate payment of increased wages including arrears as per GO 8, ID cards and uniform to the workers and free distribution of essential provisional items by the government are not being heeded.

“On the other hand, the management of Gurukuls and welfare hostels in the State has become worse. Nowhere is the food served according to the menu. Quality standards are not met.

We often see incidents of students falling ill due to half-cooked food, water and unclean environments. We have also seen incidents of students protesting for quality food.“The midday meal workers are expressing concern how can they spend money for breakfast scheme when they are struggling to cook a single meal for lunch and when indebted due to non-payment of bills.

In the way of preparing breakfast for the students there is an additional burden on the midday meal workers. The minimum wage should be fixed accordingly”.