Days after forming a panel to review the implementation of the midday meal scheme in West Bengal, the Ministry of Education has requested the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) to conduct a special audit of the scheme in the state, citing alleged misuse of funds. The ministry announced its decision on Wednesday, saying that it will take necessary “corrective action” based on the audit of the CAG, which will look into compliance, performance and financial aspects of the scheme, which was rebranded as 'PM Poshan' in 2021. “The Ministry of Education has received reports about the alleged misuse of funds in West Bengal under the PM Poshan scheme. Instances of deviations in implementation of the scheme have also been reported in the media. In view of the above, the ministry has requested the CAG for a special audit of implementation of the scheme in the state for the last three financial years,” an official statement said. On January 13, the ministry had announced the setting up of a Joint Review Mission (JRM) to examine various aspects of the implementation of the scheme ranging from “fund flow from state to schools” to “convening the meetings of district-level committee under chairpersonship of senior most Member of Parliament” in West Bengal. The JRM was formed following a letter by West Bengal Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari to Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in which the former alleged “misappropriation” of midday meal funds by the Trinamool-led government. “The funds granted by the Central government in this regard have been systematically diverted unethically by the state government on a regular basis to serve their own interests,” he had alleged. Subsequently, the members of the panel also visited the state. Incidentally, while the ministry had issued a press statement on the JRM for West Bengal, it did not do so in the case of the JRMs for Tamil Nadu and Telangana formed around the same time. According to the PM Poshan guidelines, these joint missions, “shall visit eight to 10 states every year to review the implementation of the scheme at state, district and school levels on defined parameters”. The visit of a JRM for West Bengal in 2020 had to be “deferred”. The last JRM report on West Bengal dates back to 2015. In its report, the JRM had then praised the state on a number of counts, including 'systematic allotment of food grains without any delay', 'monitoring management', and 'preparation of menu in consultation with the parents and other stakeholders'. It had also flagged certain constraints such as “30% of the schools are run in rented houses in which at places owners are not permitting to cook the meal inside the building” and “no proper kitchen and dining space” in all the village schools.
