Ludhiana: New directives issued, but vendor bills remain pending

The directions instruct cook-cum-helpers to strictly adhere to prescribed menus, maintain kitchen cleanliness, segregate wet and dry waste in separate dustbins, and assign teachers to supervise meal preparation

Even as the PM Poshan Scheme office issued fresh directives stressing hygiene, menu compliance, and safety in government schools, teachers across the district continue to grapple with growing resentment and operational disruptions triggered by the transition to a new portal for fund disbursements.

Under the revised mechanism, vendor bills must be routed through block offices for direct disbursement from higher authorities. (HT)

The official communication, addressed to all district education officers, refers to visits by the state food commission to various districts. The directions instruct cook-cum-helpers to strictly adhere to prescribed menus, maintain kitchen cleanliness, segregate wet and dry waste in separate dustbins, and assign teachers to supervise meal preparation. It also mandates the use of LPG gas cylinders instead of firewood and provides emergency contact numbers for workers.

However, teachers stated that several directives remain impractical on the ground, particularly in rural institutions where procuring refilled gas cylinders is frequently constrained by accessibility issues. Davinder Singh Sidhu, vice-president of the Democratic Teachers’ Front, said while urban schools mostly use gas, many rural schools still depend on firewood.

Furthermore, Sidhu stated that technical bottlenecks and payment delays stemming from the new portal system have severely disrupted meal arrangements, forcing some institutions to briefly suspend services as vendors awaited their dues.

“We started serving meals on Friday after a few schools said the vendors had received the funds, but most schools are still waiting because of the change in the portal system,” Sidhu said.

Clarifying the administrative shift, Ramanjeet Singh Sandhu, block primary education officer for Mangat-1, stated that under the revised mechanism, vendor bills must be routed through block offices for direct disbursement from higher authorities.

“Under the new system, vendors will be paid directly after we receive their bills and forward them to the higher authorities, but bills have now started getting cleared,” Sandhu said.