Uttarakhand HC seeks report from govt on mid-day meal scheme ‘irregularities’ amid lockdown

Dehradun: Uttarakhand high court (HC) has directed the Trivendra Singh-led state government to submit all details by Thursday regarding how school children were

Published on: Jun 23, 2020, 12:16:03 IST

By Neeraj Santoshi

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Dehradun: Uttarakhand high court (HC) has directed the Trivendra Singh-led state government to submit all details by Thursday regarding how school children were being provided foodgrains daily and reimbursed for their mid-day meals along with a list of beneficiaries amid the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, said Kamlesh Kumar, the counsel of the petitioners, Nainital based Sanjay Rawat and Madan Singh Mehta.

Though the hill state’s schools are shut since March 13 because of the pandemic, students are being provided with foodgrains daily and also reimbursed for the expenses incurred to prepare the mid-day meals.

Altogether, there are 16,735 government-run and aided schools in the state, including primary, upper primary, high school, and intermediate.

Earlier, the petitioners – Rawat and Mehta – had moved court, alleging irregularities and inconsistencies in providing foodgrains and the reimbursements for preparing mid-day meals amid the Covid-19 epidemic.

The cooking cost for each student works out to around Rs4.97 for the primary section (class I to V) and over Rs7.4 for the middle school (class VI to VIII), according to the Central government’s rules.

Besides, the primary section and middle school students are entitled to 100 and 150 grams of rice daily, respectively.

Kumar said the counsel, who appeared on behalf of the state government, informed the court that though the authorities have incurred all the costs for mid-day meals between March 13 and May 31, they haven’t provided any for June yet.

This led the court to seek the details from the state government.

Earlier, the state government had converted schools as makeshift shelter homes for those who were stranded in the state because of the imposition of nationwide lockdown restrictions, which were enforced from March 25 to contain the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Arvind Pandey, state minister for school education, had directed the school education secretary to ensure that government-run schools are converted into makeshift shelter homes for the stranded people, who were provided food by respective district administrations.

Later, these schools were also converted into temporary quarantine centres for those, who returned to the hill state amid the easing of lockdown restrictions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeraj Santoshi
Neeraj Santoshi is the Chief of Bureau for Hindustan Times in Uttarakhand, where he leads the state reporting team while covering government, politics, environment, wildlife, Uttarakhand High Court, and issues shaping the Himalayan region. With more than two decades in journalism across conflict zones, he has covered politically sensitive regions and environmentally fragile landscapes, and focused on stories that combine public interest with in-depth storytelling. An alumnus of Pune University with a Master’s in Communication Studies, he has reported extensively from Jammu & Kashmir (2003-2010), Madhya Pradesh (2010 to 2018 ) and Uttarakhand (Since 2018), covering subjects ranging from insurgency, elections and governance to wildlife conservation, mining, climate change, agriculture, human rights and social justice. He has covered politics and legislative assemblies of both Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh over more than a decade. Before taking over as Chief of Bureau in Uttarakhand, he served as Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in Madhya Pradesh and earlier reported for both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express in Jammu & Kashmir, where he covered state politics, environment and insurgency-related developments. Over the years, his stories have focused on environmental degradation, wildlife, illegal mining, governance and the changing social fabric of Himalayan states and Central India. He is particularly interested in long-form explanatory journalism, and stories that explore the intersection of ecology, conservation, governance and society. Outside the newsroom, Neeraj enjoys reading widely on neuroscience, consciousness studies, Artificial Intelligence and quantum physics, with a special interest in Kashmiri Tantric Shaivist traditions. He is also passionate about wildlife, mountaineering and the Himalayas, interests that continue to inform his reporting and deepen his understanding of the region he covers.Read More

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