HRD panel puts Delhi Govt on notice

A panel of the HRD Ministry issues a notice to Delhi Govt on reported irregularities in implementation of the mid-day meal scheme. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Jul 16, 2008, 02:42:11 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

The Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has issued a notice to Delhi government on reported irregularities in implementation of the mid-day meal scheme.

The standing committee headed by Congress Rajya Sabha MP Janardhan Diwedi issued the notice to Delhi after Hindustan Times reported on June 11 that the city government has claimed up to 35 per cent wastage in foodgrains supplied to it by the Food Corporation of India.

Officials said the committee has sought an explanation from the Delhi government on “such huge amount of wastage” claimed in the HRD ministry’s Project Approval Board for the mid-day meal scheme.

The Hindustan Times report had said that of about 3,878 tonnes foodgrains lifted in 2007-08 from the FCI stores for providing midday meal in primary schools, about 11,080 tonnes was claimed as waste resulting in a loss of Rs 263 crore to the government exchequer. This information was gathered on the basis of an RTI application.

Delhi government, in an e-mail response to the HRD ministry, explained that due to wastage in foodgrains, dust, foreign particles, transportation loss, the net quantity available was only 65 grams even though 100 grams was being issued to the contractors. However, Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely expressed ignorance about it whereas Delhi’s Mayor Aarti Mehra had accused the Delhi government of “politicising the issue”.

The Parliamentary standing committee, which is reviewing implementation of the midday meal scheme, is conducting special review of the scheme in Delhi because of reported irregularities.

Delhi government has been asked to submit all documents and present its case before the committee in its next meeting, a ministry official said. Apart from high wastage, Hindustan Times has pointed out a large number of discrepancies in implementation of the scheme in Delhi.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.