The state primary education department has assured that the mid-day meals for students in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)-run schools would start within the next few days.
DNA had earlier highlighted the suspension of the meals for a majority of over two lakh students in municipal schools in the city for the last three months.
This was due to the failure of the agency in supplying rice to the self-help groups (SHG), involved in preparing the mid-day meals.
Blaming the Maharashtra State Marketing Federation Cooperative Ltd for stoppage of the meals, MK Kadam, director of primary education in Pune, on Wednesday told DNA, “In September last year, our department had entered into an agreement with the federation to supply rice to the SHGs. The federation sub-contracted the work to various parties. Two of the sub-contractors failed to supply rice on time. We have directed the
federation to rectify the situation.”
The federation has assured that normal supply of rice would be resumed within the next few days, Kadam said, adding that his office has written to the state government to initiate legal action against the federation for its lapse.
However, he refused to comment on whether the federation’s contract would be renewed for the next academic year.
The food distribution officer of the city, Pradip Patil, said the scheme ran into trouble the day the federation was roped in for the supply of rice. Before that, Patil said, the state food distribution office was supplying rice to the SHGs for the past three years through its network of ration shops.
Expressing displeasure about the functioning of the department of education, Sangeeta Tiwari, chairperson of the education board of the PMC, pointed out that she had written several letters to the municipal commissioner drawing his attention to the state of affairs.
“The department has been assuring us for the past three months that the distribution of rice will be normalised, which has not happened. We hope the problem will be solved soon,” she said.
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