Government schools in Ludhiana have been running the mid-day meal scheme on credit as funds have remained pending since May, forcing school authorities to procure food items from local vendors without immediate payment to ensure students continue receiving meals.With no funds released for nearly two months, schools have been relying on local vendors to procure daily essentials on credit. (HT PHOTO)Teachers said the delay, caused by the transition to a new fund disbursement portal, has also affected other payments, including those for school uniforms.The mid-day meal scheme provides free cooked meals to students in government and aided schools to improve child nutrition and encourage school attendance. Under the scheme, the government provides ₹6.78 per child for primary classes and ₹10.17 per child for middle classes.However, with no funds released for nearly two months, schools have been left to arrange daily supplies on credit to keep the scheme running.Jagjit Singh Mann, district president of the Government Teachers’ Union and head teacher at Government Primary School, Mangli Uchi, said schools across the district had not received mid day meal funds since May.“We have been borrowing essential ingredients from local shopkeepers so that children’s meals are not affected. Schools cannot allow the scheme to stop, but the delay is creating serious financial difficulties,” he said.Mann said the transition from the public financial management system to the single nodal agency-SPARSH portal had disrupted the release of funds.He added that payments for school uniforms were also pending because of the portal migration, delaying their distribution to students.Another government school teacher said the department should have ensured that the new payment portal was fully functional before discontinuing the existing system.“Whenever such transitions take place, schools end up facing the consequences. The delay has affected routine functioning and added to our financial burden,” the teacher said.Deputy district education officer (Elementary) Manoj Kumar attributed the delay to theimplementation of the SNA account system for fund disbursement. He said the pending mid-day meal funds were expected to be released within the next 15 days. On the issue of delayed uniform payments, he said schools facing any difficulty could approach the department for resolution.