ANANTAPUR : The preparation of midday meals using LPG is yet to take off.
The state government has been batting for the adoption of the mode of cooking in schools as it not only creates a healthy ambience, but also reduces contamination of food. However, headmasters say they are unable to implement the scheme as the government is yet to release funds for LPG connections and stoves.
The worst part is that officials in the Education Department seem to be pressuring the headmasters to take up the project immediately.
“Had this been well planned out, we would not have had this kind of a problem. We have no money. How can the government expect us to take LPG connections and have food cooked on gas stoves?” says Penakacharla Dam School headmaster P Lakshmi Narayana.Unable to bear pressure from the Education Department, some headmasters have paid from their pockets for the connections which now lie unused in storerooms as there are no stoves.
“They want us to purchase stoves now. That’s not possible, I’m afraid,” said a headmaster not wishing to be named. But the department is unwilling to budge. The heads of schools have been directed to either buy stoves or make the agencies that cook midday meals buy them and wait for reimbursement. The pressure on schools increased after Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu read the riot act to department officials on the delay in the use of LPG connections for cooking food in schools.
The scheme which should have taken off last year, is likely to be delayed further, thanks to funds not being released to districts. Following Naidu’s instructions, DEOs are now after headmasters. Except for promises of the expenditure being reimbursed, there has been no talk of when the funds may be released.