Govt to start delivery of MDM rations to schools

Ranchi: To relieve teachers from non-academic work, the department of school education and literacy will deliver midday meal (MDM) rations to schools across the district as part of its new ‘doorstep delivery’ programme from this month.
Two vendors have been selected through tenders to deliver the ration in the district. For smooth delivery of MDM, the blocks of Ranchi have been divided into six zones. Previously, the Sanchalan Samiti (Sanyojika) and teachers were responsible for collecting quota of ration from the block in order to prepare MDM in schools. The schools were required to collect rice from the distribution block on a quarterly basis. From this quarter, rice will be delivered at school by the block authorities.
The task of delivering MDM grains to schools has been delegated to two suppliers. Sanjay Kumar, a vendor who has been tasked with transporting rice from the storage to schools in five zones, said, "After the Eid, the process of delivering rice to schools will begin. Teachers will be relieved of non-academic duties with this in effort.” On the other hand, Vikas Kumar Gupta is responsible for one zone.
District education officer Akash Kumar said, "We have begun the initiative of delivering ration, specifically the rice of the midday meal, with a pilot project in the Mandar block. We found this to be effective, so we decided to implement it across all districts. The initiative will go into effect from this month.”
The six zones include the blocks of Ranchi, Ormanjhi Kanke, Ratu, Nagdi, Burmu, Chanho, Mandar, Namkum, Angada, Silli, Lapung, Bero Itki, Bundu, Tamar, Rahe and Sonahatu covering a total of 2,103 schools across the state.
MDM's district nodel officer Kameshwar Singh said, "The tender has been completed for the entire year (four quarters). Prior to this, the tender had been issued thrice but no one responded. The work was scheduled to begin only in the final quarter (January to March) of 2022-23 but because the tender was not finalized, delivery did not occur in January 2022. The delivery will be coordinated by the block elementary education officer."