89 per cent mid-day meals in Delhi below nutritional standards: Government auditor

New Delhi: Eighty nine per cent of cooked midday meal samples in Delhi during the period 2010-14 failed to meet prescribed nutritional standards as per a test conducted by an agency engaged for this purpose, the Comptroller and Auditor General or CAG has found.

In a report on the implementation of the Midday Meal scheme, the CAG mentioned that prescribed nutrition was not being provided in test checked schools of at least nine states.

Citing the example of Delhi, the auditor said that 1,876 of the 2,012 samples (89 per cent) tested by Sri Ram institute for Industrial Research (SRIIR), failed to meet the prescribed nutrition standards.

SRIIR had tested samples of 37 service providers, the report said.

The audit also observed that the Directorate extended supply orders of 31 service providers on March 31, 2014, for the year 2014-15 though their foodgrain samples had failed.

This included 12 service providers who were penalised every year for the past four years, thereby indicating continuous failure, the auditor said in its report.

The Directorate did not take any punitive measures and instead levied only penalty of Rs. 77.25 lakh on 37 defaulting service providers, CAG said in its report.