Firth (18th to 27th June 2013) - Mid Day Meal Scheme

JRM TRIPPURA REPORT, 18-26 June, 2013
are technical errors, late presentation of bills from the concerned Department etc
.Observations from JRM:
On receipt of sanction letter from Government of India. the delay from State to District offices for
fund release can be shortened by combining the seeking of administrative and financial
approval together from Department to State Finance Department for allocation to different I/S
offices .
The information provided regarding fund flow details of two the visited districts are as indicates
that there is no delay in transfer of fund from district to block offices. But in many schools
negative balance of cooking cost has been observed by the JRM which should be an outcome
of delay of release of fund from District to Blocks or from Blocks to Schools. In 38% of schools it
was found that there was a negative balance at the beginning of June 2013, which is very high
at some places . The negative balances in cooking cost is especially hard in some schools
since firewood and vegetables have to be brought on payment and no credit is available from
small farmers/ vendors.
The delay in transfer of funds to the school accounts was attributed to several reasons. The A/c
bills can only be released only for one demand per month which is as per allocation per quarter.
In case of non-availability of full fund requisition for one quarter,. Leading to negative balance at
the school as well as due to delay by the bank ( Tripura Gramin Bank). It has been observed
that the system of withdrawal per quarter of requirement is highly complicated, thereby delays in
any one quarter cannot be recovered in a timely manner by the Inspector of Schools. The fund
flow system from the state to the schools needs to be streamlined along with appropriate
monitoring and redressal systems so as to ensure that there is no delay in transfer of cooking
costs leading to negative balances in the school MDMS accounts.
2. Food grain flow
In Tripura, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department is the Nodal Agency
for lifting of food grains from FCI Godown and then storing it in the Sub-Divisional Godown of
the State. Thereafter, the dealers of Fair Price shops lift food grains from Sub-Divisional food
godown and store it in their respective store house. The School authorities arrange for lifting
of rice from F.P. Shops and keep the lifted rice in safe storage in school.
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