Ludhiana: The Punjab govt’s transition to the SNA-SPARSH portal for centrally sponsored schemes has triggered severe concerns among school heads and teachers, who state that mandatory GST billing for midday meal purchases will disrupt the PM-POSHAN scheme.Under the revised payment system, schools are required to upload GST bills for all purchases, including cooking costs. However, school heads point out that perishable essentials such as fruits, vegetables, and milk are bought in small quantities from local vendors, roadside carts, and small shopkeepers in both rural and urban areas who do not issue GST invoices.Compounding the billing hurdle, school principals allege that they have not received midday meal payments or cooking cost reimbursements since the start of the current academic year. A senior secondary school principal noted that while schools maintain GST bills for general items, small fresh produce purchases lack invoices, adding that pending payments over the last three to four months remain the primary concern.Echoing similar frustrations, a PM Shri school principal from Ludhiana stated that logging into the new portal via principal credentials still displays a zero balance, urging the department to prioritise clearing backlog payments over implementing new portal mandates.Midday meal department officials in Ludhiana stated that payments are being cleared progressively. An official confirmed that funds have been released to schools in three or four blocks so far, with the rest under process, adding that policy directives from higher authorities apply statewide and any administrative confusion would be reviewed at the state level.Acknowledging the logistical strain, deputy district education officer (primary) Manoj Kumar stated that schools have raised genuine concerns regarding small-vendor purchases. He expressed hope that higher authorities would issue a clarification letter to address the operational difficulties faced by both rural and urban schools.Teacher unions have called for excluding the scheme from the new portal. Vikram Dev Singh from the Democratic Teachers Front (DTF) noted that schools struggle to provide seasonal fruits within the small per-student allowance and demanded that midday meal payments be exempted from SNA-SPARSH requirements.The PM-POSHAN scheme provides midday meals to students from pre-primary (UKG) to Class 8 under a 60:40 funding ratio between the Centre and Punjab govt. The allocated daily cooking cost per child stands at approximately ₹6.7 for primary sections (UKG to Class 5) and ₹10 for upper primary classes (Classes 6 to 8).
