Kolkata: Ahead of the panchayat elections due this year, the West Bengal government has decided to introduce chicken and seasonal fruits in mid-day meals for a four month period from January.
According to a notification under PM POSHAN, the new items will be served once a week for additional nutrition of the children apart from rice, lentils, potato, soybean and eggs.
The state government has sanctioned Rs 371 crore for purpose.
Political slugfest begins
Over 1.16 crore students studying in the state-run and aided and schools will be benefited with the move. However, the decision to continue with the added items after April has not been taken yet.
Soon after the decision, political slugfest started in Bengal. While TMC Rajya Sabha MP Shantanu Sen said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is always by the side of poor, BJP leader Rahul Sinha said that ahead of the panchayat polls, the TMC had announced a sop for four months.
However, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari called the mid-day meal a ‘financial scam’.
“One of the biggest ongoing financial scams in WB is the systematic misappropriation & diversion of Central Govt's Mid Day Meal or PM Poshan funds by the State Govt's Administrative machinery. I have written a letter to @EduMinOfIndia Shri @dpradhanbjp Ji regarding this,” tweeted LoP.
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