LPG becomes huge burden for mid-day meal workers in Karimnagar

The shift from firewood to LPG for cooking mid-day meals has increased financial pressure on workers, who say supplied cylinders are insufficient and no funds have been allocated. Agencies are forced to spend thousands every month to ensure meals are served.

Karimnagar: Preparing meals using liquid petroleum gas (LPG) has become another burden for mid-day meal workers, who are already facing problems due to delays in the release of bills and salaries.

To avoid students being exposed to health problems caused by smoke from firewood used for cooking food under the mid day meal programme, district officials decided to switch to LPG instead of firewood.

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For the first time, the system has been introduced in the State.

Apart from issuing instructions to mid day meal agencies in this regard, strict directions were also given to suspend headmasters of schools if meals were prepared using firewood.

As part of the new initiative, two LPG cylinders were supplied to each school a month ago. Workers, who had been preparing meals using firewood, were forced to shift to LPG.

Although LPG cylinders were supplied, cooking stoves were not provided. As a result, agencies had to purchase stoves at their own cost.

Moreover, the use of LPG has become a major problem as the two cylinders supplied to each school are not sufficient for institutions with high student strength.

An LPG cylinder gets exhausted within three to four days in schools with a strength of 200 to 250 students, forcing agencies to buy more cylinders by spending their own money.

When firewood was used, agencies spent Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 9,000 every six months. Now, almost the same amount has to be spent every month to purchase LPG, agency workers said.
Speaking to Telangana Today, Mid Day Meal Workers’ Association district president Burra Manjula said that cooking meals using LPG had become a big problem for them.

They were asked to procure cylinders from Indane LPG agencies in their respective areas. However, LPG agency authorities were not supplying more than two cylinders a month, she said.

Meanwhile, fearing suspension, school headmasters were not allowing the use of firewood even if LPG cylinders got exhausted in the middle of cooking. Earlier, workers used to procure firewood from nearby forest areas by engaging labourers at lower cost, but now the process has become more expensive, she added.

The government has instructed them to prepare meals using LPG but has not allocated any funds for the purpose. While stating that they were ready to cook food with LPG, she urged the government to supply more cylinders at subsidised rates.