Eggs To Be Part Of Mid-Day Meal Menu In Bengal: Suvendu Adhikari

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday said that students of government, aided and sponsored schools in the state will continue to get eggs as part of their mid-day meals, ending debates over the new all-vegetarian menu that was earlier announced for these institutes.

Speaking at a press conference at the state secretariat Nabanna, the chief minister said while ISKCON will continue to provide vegetarian mid-day meals at schools, the government will arrange for self-help groups to provide boiled eggs to children. The non-vegetarian food will be supplied to schools separately.

The measure will be implemented from August 1, Adhikari said.

"Starting August 1, ISKCON will distribute mid-day meals across a large area of Kolkata as part of a pilot project. ISKCON will serve vegetarian protein-rich meals. Additionally, we are arranging for self-help group workers to provide protein-rich eggs separately to the students in the mid-day meal, ensuring that our students receive a complete, protein-rich diet," Adhikari said.

The BJP-led West Bengal government, shortly after coming to power in May, had transferred the responsibility of serving meals to lakhs of school students to ISKCON. It was announced that only nutritious vegetarian food would be distributed in schools, and eggs would no longer be provided.

"We have arranged for SHG groups to provide boiled eggs to the children as a supplement to the mid-day meal one or two days a week. ISKCON will supply the meals while maintaining its established standards," Adhikari said.

The overall responsibility for the distribution of mid-day meals remains with ISKCON.

The chief minister added, "A similar system is already in place in Odisha. ISKCON supplies mid-day meals across many states in India, currently serving 22 cities. We have adopted this model and will additionally provide boiled eggs".

The state government also increased the allocation of fund for the mid-day meal project that is being implemented in the state.

"Previously, the allocation for mid-day meals was Rs 10 for high schools and upper primary schools, whereas it was Rs 6.78 for primary schools. We have now raised the allocation for primary schools to Rs 10 as well," Adhikari said.

The change will come into effect from August 1, with the state government bearing the additional cost.