Kohima, July 18 (MExN): The Department of School Education (DoSE), Government of Nagaland, has issued a clarification on account of the RTI disclosure made on the Mid Day Meal (MDM) scheme in Nagaland. On July 15, as per information provided by RTI applicants, the DoSE had been indicated to have “mismanaged” more than Rs. 73 crore meant for MDM.
The Department clarified in a press statement from its Additional Director (HOD), Wonthungo Tsopoe, that “apart from the fund distributed amongst the SDEOs, which unfortunately was the only component pointed out as per the RTI disclosure, payment to the FCI for food grains, transportation costs for carriage of food grain from the FCI Depot to the SDEOs and the Management & Monitoring Expenditure (MME), which is 1.8% of the total outlay for MDM in a year, are incurred from the Directorate.”
It further stated that there are “costs for utensils which are centrally procured from the Directorate for distribution to the schools.”
“Expenditure for the other components thus pointed out was not taken into account thereby presuming that funds to the tune of Rs. 73.00 Crores had been mismanaged,” declared the DoSE. It is, however, unclear why these details were not furnished in the RTI in the first place.
The DoSE also found the allegation of “fund getting lost midway between the Finance & the School Education Department” as “preposterous” as funds received from the Government of India is “never handled in the manner as perceived by the RTI applicants.”
“There are funds pertaining to MDM that are still with the State Government, however, these funds are released to the Department subject to proposals and request submitted by us and will neither be adjusted nor will it go missing since every penny that is received from the GOI is to be accounted for,” noted the DoSE.
Noting that the Comptroller & Auditor General’s Report which was tabled in the Assembly had pointed out some anomalies and the same is “now under the examination State Assembly PAC and also the PAC of the Parliament,” the DoSE has chosen not to make any comment on the same.
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