The state government plans to constitute a state level council to oversee the functioning of mid-day meal scheme, in which over 60 lakh students are fed everyday free of cost, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Rathnakar said on Tuesday.
During a debate on a calling attention motion on the operation of the mid-day meal scheme, Rathnakar said that over 6.20 crore students have benefited from the programme since it started in 2002.
In his reply to the Legislative Council on the subject, which had also won the accolades from the Opposition members, he said that despite managing the largest-ongoing mid-day meal scheme, only 12 incidents, including four this year, of food poisoning were reported in the state so far. Apart from this a girl had died after she fell into a boiling sambar pot, the minister added. Informing that the mid-day meal scheme is being implemented in over 55,000 government and aided schools across the state, the minister said that among these, only 18,000 school buildings have separate kitchen.
The government will give milk to kids studying in the state-run primary schools from August first week. In his reply to a calling attention motion on Tuesday, Minister Kimmane Rathnakar said that it would cost Rs 600 crore per year.