Mid-day meal to be privatised

Visakhapatnam: Leaving aside the welfare of over 45,000 women workers, the state government has invited Express of Interest (EoI) from the private parties to handle the mid-day meal scheme with centralised community kitchen across the state. Though the mid-day meal workers are opposing the government’s move to privatise the scheme, the government already collected the data from all the district educational officers for dividing the schools in every 25 km as one cluster.

Highlights:

• The interested parties have to set up modern kitchens, cook the food and have to serve on wheels to each school that comes under the cluster
• According to inputs from the DEOs, the government announced total 71 clusters across the 13 districts
• Already, the mid-day meal scheme has been entrusted to some noted NGOs and establishments in some cities, including Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Kuppam and some other areas

According to inputs from the DEOs, the government announced total 71 clusters across the 13 districts. The interested parties have to set up modernised kitchens, cook the food and have to serve on wheels to each school that comes under the cluster. Already, the mid-day meal scheme had entrusted to some noted NGOs and establishments in some cities, including Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Kuppam and some other areas.

The mid-day meal scheme was launched in January 2003 for the children in primary schools, later, it was extended to upper primary and high schools also. According to the data, in the present academic year, 34.57 lakh students from Class I to X are partaking lunch in 45,528 schools.

In 2003, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu entrusted the responsibilities of the mid-day meal to the self-help group members. Presently, the mid-day meal workers are cooking the food on the school premises and serving the lunch to the students. The government constructed special rooms and sheds to cook the lunch. At present 80 per cent of the schools are having the kitchen rooms and sheds.

However, during the past five years, the mid-day meal workers are not getting their wages and maintenance expenditure regularly. According to the mid-day meal workers, the government is not paying the wages and other dues since January 2017. Even the government is not paying wages regularly, the women workers are running the show facing several pains in the villages.

In this backdrop, the government has decided and invited EoIs from the private parties to handle the mid-day meal scheme. The interested parties have to set up advanced community kitchens, prepare the lunch for the students and distribute on wheels to the schools.

“In 2014 electioneering, N Chandrababu Naidu had promised to the SHG member to clear all the pending bills and there won’t be any delay in payments futher. But, now the Chief Minister has retrenching over 40,000 of mid-day meal workers and privatising the scheme.

“Preparing lunch at community kitchens in every 25 km radius and supplying on wheels, food may not be fresh and hot. We are serving the hot and fresh lunch to the students on the school precincts only. We already launched agitation and would intensify if the government privatise the mid-day meal scheme.

We are not getting wages and other payments regularly. However, taking several pains and borrowing the items on credit, we are serving the lunch to the children,” according to Andhra Pradesh Mid-Day Meal Workers Association president Aruna and other leaders Varalakshmi, Prasasnna and Mangatayaru.

By VKL Gayatri