PANAJI
The Centre and Goa government have approved an outlay of Rs 35.84 crore for the mid-day meal scheme in 2026-27 to provide nutritious meals to over 1.58 lakh students, reflecting a marginal increase over last year's expenditure of Rs 35.15 crore.
The Programme Approval Board (PAB) - Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM-POSHAN) during its meeting held earlier this month, noted that the State has around Rs 35 lakh unspent amount, sanctioned in the last term.
The State had submitted its Annual Operational Plan to PAB, who deliberated on it during its latest meeting. The PAB has approved Central assistance of Rs 22.41 crore and 4534 metric tonnes of food grains. The minimum mandatory State share is fixed at Rs 13.43 crore as per the existing norms. The PAB has granted liberty to the State to add additional funds from their own resources.
“The computation of central assistance of Rs. 22.41 cr & 4,534 MT food- grains and minimum mandatory State share of Rs. 13.43cr has been done as per existing norms. However, it may be emphasised that the computation of the Central Assistance also includes a tentative unspent balance of Rs 35 Lakh,” PAB said.
The Board has approved the number of eligible students 1.58 lakhs including 3,382 under Bal Vatika, 90,695 primary students and 64,281 upper primary students. The total number of working days is 238.
The PAB has asked the State to approach Union government to seek additional Central Assistance and food grains if it is in need of more funds to implement the Scheme, due to various reasons.
“During the year, if it is noticed by the State Government that more funds are needed to implement the Scheme, due to various reasons like increase in the attendance of students, increase in school working days or for any other reason, they may approach the Government of India, with justification, to seek additional Central Assistance and foodgrains,” PAB said adding that if the Central Government observes a coverage lower than the approvals, the actual release may be restricted to the actual coverage.
The State has been advised to ensure uninterrupted supply of hot cooked meals to all eligible students on all school days even in case of delay of release of funds, food-grains supply constraints or for any other reasons.
