Honorarium for cooks involved in the midday meal scheme will be distributed in two weeks, Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty has said.
As many as 13,611 cooks prepare the mid-day meals in schools in the State, a statement from the Minister’s office said on Saturday.
On days that the school functions, a mid-day meal cook is paid ₹600 to ₹675 a day. In a month with nearly 20 working days, this comes to ₹12,000 to ₹13,500 a month. In no other State is a mid-day meal cook paid this much, the Minister says.
As the mid-day meal scheme is Centrally sponsored, the Union government share is included in the honorarium. However, delay by the Centre in giving the second instalment has resulted in the workers being denied their rightful pay.
This year, Union government has to pay ₹292.54 crore as its share to the State. Of this, only ₹167.38 crore has been received till now. With only a few days left for the end of the financial year, delay in paying the State arrears to the tune ₹125.16 crore has pushed the scheme implementation into a crisis.
A proposal submitted on December 27 last for releasing the funds was returned five times by the internal finance wing of the Union Education Ministry citing various hurdles. Each time, the State submitted a reply seeking urgent release of the funds but to no avail.
Even with the delay in the Union government share, the State government gave the mid-day meal cooks full honorarium for November and in part for December. An amount of ₹106 crore was spent for this. It also paid them ₹2,000 each as relief in April and May last year. An amount of ₹5.5 crore was sanctioned for this.
Besides this, ₹55.05 crore has been sanctioned from the State’s share for paying the remaining honorarium for December last and that for January this year. The State was also trying in earnest to get the second instalment of the Union government share. Once this is received, the honorarium for February will be paid, the Minister says.
