West-bengal to serve fruits, chicken in mid-day meals ahead of Panchayat polls

Kolkata: The West-Bengal government decided to serve chicken, fruits in mid-day meals for four months starting from January ahead of the Panchayat polls to  be held this year.

The notification read, Rice, potato, soyabean and eggs, chicken and seasonal fruits will be served weekly once for additional nutrition under PM Poshan to the existing mid-day meals.

“Additional nutrition will include egg/ chicken/ seasonal fruits which may be added with normal PM-POSHAN on a weekly basis for 4 months from January 23 to April 23. Extra cost for additional nutrition per week per student will be Rs 20, “the notification from the state government’s education department read.

An amount of Rs 371 crore has been sanctioned for the extra nutrition scheme.  Students at present are given rice, pulses, vegetables, soybean and eggs in schools as part of mid-day meals. An amount of Rs 20 will be spent per week on providing additional nutrition to every student, and the process will continue for 16 weeks, according to the notification.

Over 1.16 crore students in state-run and aided schools are beneficiaries of the mid-day meal scheme, for which the state and Centre share the cost on a 60:40 ratio.