Bhubaneswar, May 11: The kitchen garden programme implemented by the Odisha government in schools across the state has turned dry owing to non-disbursement of funds.
This has deprived the students from consuming organically grown vegetables and school administration is depending on local markets for procuring vegetables for mid-day meals at high prices.
As per the programme, Rs 5,000 was sanctioned to each primary school of Odisha in 2021-22 academic year for developing kitchen gardens on their premises.
Over Rs 21 crore was disbursed to 43,000 primary schools in the state under the programme. Schools were asked to set up nutritional gardens by growing all-season fruit-bearing trees like lemon, papaya and drumstick organically along with seasonal vegetables.
However, almost all kitchen gardens have turned barren due to non-disbursement of funds for the last three years. Besides, many schools do not have proper infrastructure for maintaining the gardens.
Students were keenly interested in growing seasonal vegetables. They were taking care of the garden once in a week class-wise. The kitchen garden was very helpful to provide nutrition rich Dalma and often Saga Bhaja. The programme was properly implemented for one year. Later, schools did not receive any fund for it, said a teacher from Jagatsinghpur.
