Shortage of LPG cylinders affect midday meal programme in several Bengal schools, firewood used to serve limited food

Kolkata: Shortage of cooking gas cylinders has begun to affect midday meals in schools across West Bengal, forcing authorities to adopt alternative fuels such as firewood or serving limited food items to students, officials said on Thursday.

At Krishnachandrapur High School in South 24 Parganas district, authorities had stocked firewood as an alternative fuel after anticipating a shortage of LPG cylinders.

On March 11, the midday meal for around 1,500 students was cooked on traditional clay ovens using firewood after the school failed to receive gas supplies, headmaster Chandan Maiti said on Thursday.

The school had anticipated the crisis a day earlier and arranged firewood as a temporary solution.

"We realised on Tuesday what might happen and prepared accordingly. But the supply of firewood is limited. It cannot continue like this for long, and the government needs to intervene," he said.

Teacher-in-charge of Barojaguli Gopal Academy in Nadia, Rajkumar Hazra, said LPG cylinders were exhausted after cooking Wednesday's meal.

"Our cylinder stock has exhausted. We are in touch with the block development office and local LPG gas suppliers. Under no circumstances can the midday meal programme be stopped," he said.

In an upper primary school in Bolpur, authorities arranged wooden logs to cook for around 100 students.

Authorities implementing the PM POSHAN (midday meal) scheme in the districts said they contacted the school education department to take up the matter with the Centre to prevent disruption of the meal for students.

At Rani Rashmoni High School in central Kolkata, students were served boiled eggs on Wednesday due to the shortage of cooking gas.

Headmaster Syed Mohsin Imam said around 70-80 students are served midday meals every day.

On Thursday, 'khichdi' (rice-lentil porridge) and egg were supplied by a voluntary organisation to students.

At Lake Girls school in South Kolkata, khichdi was served to students.

"We had to curtail the menu of soyabean, egg, daal and rice and arranged 'khichdi' for today. We don't want to stop the meal under any circumstances. But don't know what will happen in the coming days," the school headmistress said.

Chairman of the Kolkata District Primary School Council, Kartik Manna, acknowledged the shortage of LPG supply, but stressed that meals for students must continue.

"We have instructed schools to explore alternative fuels such as firewood, coal or diesel until the situation normalises," he said.

School education officials said efforts were on to ensure the midday meal programme continued without interruption and that steps were being taken to restore gas supply at the earliest.