Midday meal scheme buried deep into the past

PATIALA: Thousands of school students in Punjab proceeded with their summer vacations in high hopes that the midday meal scheme shall be introduced once again when schools reopen. It has been more than 10 days that the excited pupils got back to their studies in 15,000 schools, but the Punjab government is yet to release Rs 45 crore for the purpose.
The scheme saw a bleak future much before the vacations began, though teachers continued with the facility, paying from their pockets. Seeing no hope, they too stopped. Details obtained from the midday cell show that the SAD-BJP government, in its current regime, did not release funds even once.
President of the Sikhiya Vikas Manch Jagjit Nohra said: "We had been paying to keep the scheme alive but we can't continue for long without support. Shopkeepers refuse us any more ration on credit. Our seniors insist we should go on." When contacted, Punjab in charge of the scheme, Prabhcharn Singh, could not provide a satisfactory reply. He could not even reveal the correct figure of the pending amount.
For the scheme, 75% grants come from the Centre while the remaining 25% from the state government. But, the non-seriousness on part of Punjab could be gauged from the fact that it has not been contributing its small share despite repeated requests made by the schools.