SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, May 28: Salaries of around six District Superintendents of Education over the state have been stopped, while two BEEOs have been suspended due to irregularities in mid-day meal services in several districts in Jharkhand for their negligence in transferring the amount of mid-day meal to Saraswati Vahini’s account. These include BEEO of Chhatarpur, Palamu and Chauparan, Hazaribagh.
Meanwhile, the School Education and Literacy Department has also ordered to stop the salary of six district education superintendents (DEOs) of the state for May for negligence in the mid-day meal scheme. The districts where the salaries of district education superintendents have been stopped include Khuti, Chatra, Gumla, Simdega, Hazaribagh and Giridih districts.
At the same time, clarification has been sought from the district education superintendents of 13 districts. These districts include education superintendents of Koderma, Godda, Deoghar, Jamtara, Ranchi and East Singhbhum Pakur. These DEOs have been asked to provide clarification as to why action should not be taken against them for negligence. They have also been asked why they should not be debarred from posting on important posts and why action should not be taken against them under the provisions of the Food Security Act.
Notably, the department of Schools Education and Literacy provides a hefty amount in the form of cooking costs to the district officials every month to provide mid-day meals to schools in respective districts. The amount is decided on the basis of the total number of schools and students in a district.
As per state education secretary Rajesh Kumar Sharma, “The funds transferred for the mid-day meals were sent to the respective districts. The money was then sent to the respective blocks. However, several blocks did not send the money to the accounts of the schools.”
Notably, the funds had already been transferred in the second week of April, however, they were not sent to schools throughout May. As a result, schools in several blocks were either unable to provide the mid-day meals or cost-cutting was done by other departments to make up for the missing amount.
“As per a report of the bank statements, 2200 out of the total 35,000 schools had not received the money for mid-day meals. Even if the schools were closed due to summer vacation from May 15, the amount should have been sent to the respective schools,” Sharma added.
When asked if the action was to be taken against the officials, he said that the matter is being investigated and appropriate action will be taken against the officials.
