BHUBANESWAR : Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Tuesday announced enhanced honorarium for cooks and helpers working under the PM Poshan (Mid-Day Meal) scheme and doubled the transportation cost of the ration supplied to anganwadi centres under the supplementary nutrition programme.
Their monthly honorarium has been raised from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000. This decision will benefit over 1.12 lakh cook-cum-helpers appointed under the PM Poshan scheme in the state. The state government will incur an additional expenditure of Rs 112 crore per annum on this front.
These cooks and helpers are serving hot meals to 42.45 lakh students in 50,618 primary and upper primary schools from Class I to Class VIII across the state.
The government has also increased the transportation charges for delivery of rice and wheat to anganwadi centres under supplementary nutrition scheme (SNP) from Rs 75 to Rs 150 per quintal.
The CM also approved the proposal of the Cooperation department for seed money of Rs 5 lakh to each newly-formed primary agricultural credit society (PACS) and large area multipurpose cooperative society (LAMPS) to make them operational. This will entail an expenditure of Rs 76.80 crore to the government for operationalisation of 1,542 newly formed PACS/LAMPS.