VELLORE: The Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme, which was started on August 28, faces a new issue - shortage of provisions.
The scheme envisages providing children with healthy breakfast, including rava uppuma, rice uppuma, wheat rava uppuma, pongal and rava kichadi along with sambar on all days and it had drawn up a list of ingredients to be provided per child, sources said. This include 50 grams each of rava, wheat, rice and vegetables (for sambar), 15 grams each of thuvaram paruppu/ passi parauppu, 3 ml oil, 5 grams for seasoning, 5 grams onions and salt as needed, officials added.
However, in practice, though provisions are indented for a month, cooks and organisers have realised that what is possible in theory is not so in practice. “This is specially, true of both oil and salt which we run short of as each woman cooks differently,” a cook revealed on condition of anonymity.
Elaborating, the cook said, “if we cook pongal based on the ingredients provided and according to the advice given, we end up with a sort of gruel (kanji) like substance which might be refused by the children. Hence, in a bid to ensure that food is not wasted we bring extra oil or salt from our houses to ensure that the meal is palatable.”
Asked if such shortages were brought to the notice of the top officials, sources replied in the affirmative.