Women MDM cooks to get 500 to buy sarees

Prayagraj: Following the promise made by the chief minister Yogi Adityanath regarding providing money to women cooks, preparing mid-day meal (MDM) in more than 1.60 lakh government-run primary and upper primary schools of the Basic Education department, the government has started the process of transferring the money in the bank account of these female cooks.Fulfilling the promise, around 3,72,509 MDM cooks would be provided Rs 500 which they can spend on buying new saree which could be part of their uniform. For this, the state government has released funds amounting to over Rs 18.62 crores. Each of the women cooks would receive Rs 500 each in the name of buying cloth. In December 2021, CM Yogi had promised to give Rs 500 to each of these lady cooks so that they can buy a pair of sarees. It was also announced to increase the honorarium being given to these cooks from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 per month. Following this, a govt order in this regard was issued on April 28, 2022. The increased honorarium of the cooks was first released on September 13, 2022 and reached their respective bank accounts the same day. But the amount of Rs 500 promised for a pair of saris could not be released but it is being done now. However, the government’s promise of providing Rs 5 lakh group insurance cover to these cooks is yet to be fulfilled.The decision to release the funds for the saris has been conveyed by Director (school education) and head of UP MDM Authority Vijay Kiran Anand to all district magistrates through a missive dated March 14, 2023. The instructions also specified the amount for each of the 75 districts out of the total released Rs 18,62,54,500.The maximum funds at a rate of Rs 500 per cook have been released for Hardoi (Rs 51.17 lakh) and Sitapur (Rs 54.75 lakh). There are 10,950 MDM cooks in Sitapur and 10,234 in Hardoi. Similarly a budget of Rs 46.60 lakh has been allocated for 9,321 cooks in Prayagraj, over Rs 46.36 lakh for 9,272 cooks in Bahraich, over Rs 47.95 lakh for 9,591 cooks in Lakhimpur Kheri besides over Rs 22.53 lakh for 4,507 cooks in Kanpur Dehat, over Rs 18.66 lakh for 3,733 cooks in Kanpur Nagar, Rs 19.40 lakh for 3,880 cooks in Lucknow, Rs 12.30 lakh for 2,460 cooks in Meerut, Rs 20.88 lakh for 4,176 cooks in Varanasi and Rs 30.10 lakh for 6,060 cooks in Agra among others.“For Prayagraj, a budget of Rs 46,60,500 has been received for 9,321 cooks covered under the MDM scheme and the same has been deposited in the bank accounts of the women cooks,” said Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA)-Prayagraj, Praveen Kumar Tiwari.
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