Patnaik sanctions Rs 117 crore for cooks, helpers of midday meal scheme

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik sanctioned Rs 117.73 crore financial assistance for cooks and helpers engaged in preparing and serving the mid-day meals in schools across the state.

Patnaik also sanctioned Rs 500 each to 1.09 lakh women cooks and helpers to purchase a saree each. An amount of Rs 5.45 crore was deposited in their bank accounts on Tuesday, a CMO release said on Wednesday.

The mid-day meal is being served in about 50,000 schools where more than 45 lakh students are served with mid-day meal through 4,730 Mission Shakti Groups, it said.