As funds dry up, firewood returns to Ludhiana school kitchens

According to union representatives, the persistent shortage of funds has severely disrupted regular arrangements for preparing hygienic meals, forcing workers to rely on firewood despite the safety and health hazards involved in school environments

With funds allocated for cooking costs under the mid-day meal scheme remaining pending for months, school meal workers in the district have alleged that several institutions are no longer providing LPG cylinders, forcing them to resort to traditional wood fires to prepare food for students.

A mid-day meal worker cooking food on firewood at a government school in Ludhiana on Thursday. (HT PHOTO)

Mid-Day Meal Workers’ Union district president Parveen Kumari said financial strain is severely impacting both workers and school administrations. She said ₹1,000 from the ₹3,000 monthly honorarium due to workers for July remains uncleared, while cooking costs have not reached schools since May.

“School heads also feel helpless because they do not have cooking costs. They are trying to cut expenses wherever possible. Even if some schools have LPG cylinders, they deny providing them for preparing meals as the cooking cost has not been released to the schools since May,” Kumari said.

According to union representatives, the persistent shortage of funds has severely disrupted regular arrangements for preparing hygienic meals, forcing workers to rely on firewood despite the safety and health hazards involved in school environments.

Government Teachers’ Union district president Jagjit Singh Mann warned that mounting financial delays are placing the entire mid-day meal initiative under immense pressure.

“The pending amount keeps increasing, while we continue to wait for repeated assurances that the funds will be released. How will the mid-day meal scheme continue this way?” Mann asked.

Education dept cites portal shift and administrative hurdles

Meanwhile, education department officials maintained that the disbursement process has already been initiated. Deputy district education officer (elementary) Manoj Kumar stated that the necessary funds have been successfully transferred to the respective blocks.

District accountant Pawandeep Kaur confirmed the release at the block level but cautioned that schools may still have to wait up to a month before the amounts are actually credited to their accounts. She attributed the delay to administrative bottlenecks, including a shift in the operational portal and vacant posts of Block Primary Education Officers (BPEOs).

“The portal has been shifted and IDs need to be generated for BPEOs. It is still unclear what procedure has to be followed in blocks where there are no BPEOs. It could take at least a month for the funds to reach the schools,” Kaur said.

This latest administrative crisis compounds existing challenges for the mid-day meal scheme, which recently faced disruptions when workers staged a state-wide strike on September 8 to press for their long-pending demands, leaving school managements scrambling to ensure meals for children.