By India Today Web Desk: Mamata Banerjee does not hesitate to steal from students’ plates, said West Bengal Leader of Opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari while hitting out at the chief minister.

“As I have said earlier, Mamata Banerjee doesn’t hesitate to steal from students’ plates. Just imagine if they steal Rs 100 crore from two quarters of a financial year, how much they have siphoned off in the last 12 years? WB Govt is doing daylight robbery in the name of governance,” Suvendu Adhikari tweeted.

Suvendu Adhikari’s remark comes after The Ministry of Education (MoE) panel found that the serving of around 16 crore midday meals worth over Rs 100 crore was over-reported by the local administration in West Bengal from April to September last year.

The panel noted “serious discrepancies in the information submitted regarding the number of meals served at various levels”.

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The MoE had in January constituted the ‘joint review mission’ to review the implementation of the Centrally sponsored scheme PM POSHAN in West Bengal following complaints of irregularities.

Reacting to the report, West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu said that the JRM submitted the report without the signature of the representative of the state government.

“What, therefore, is the ‘joint’ in the joint review committee if the report is not even shared with him for his opinions or views? So it is clear that the views of the state have not been taken into account. We have already written in protest to the chairman of the JRM, to which we have not received any response yet,” Basu was quoted as saying by the news agency PTI.

WHAT IS MIDDAY MEAL SCHEME?

The Mid-Day Meal Scheme is a program launched by the Government of India to provide free and nutritious meals to schoolchildren from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

The program was launched in 1995, and it aims to address the issue of malnutrition and increase school enrollment, attendance, and retention rates. The program has been successful in increasing school attendance and improving the health and nutrition of millions of children in India.

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