HGs threaten to hit the roads if govt hands over the contract to outsiders
To launch morcha at the Directorate of Education office if deprived of mid-day meal contracts
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PONDA: Self-Help Groups (SHGs) from Ponda on Tuesday threatened to hit the roads if the government decides to hand over the mid day meal contract to outsiders by sidelining them.
The Self-Help Groups were furious after coming across some news that the government floated a tender to supply mid-day meal to around 5,000 school students from the Ponda and Canacona area.
Accusing the government of not clearing their bills from November to December, the SHGs threatened not to supply mid-day meals in protest from July 1 if the government failed to clear the bills.
The SHGs said that they are asked not to talk to the media but warned that they will definitely come on the road if the mid-day meal contract is handed over to outsiders.
They claimed that this is the first step and slowly the government will remove self help groups one by one from mid-day meal contracts.
“We will stage massive agitation if the government hands over mid-day meal contracts to NGOs from outside Goa,” they warned.
“Is this Atmirbahar and Swayampurna Goa?” asked the Head of one of the Self-Help Groups at Ponda.
She said, “The livelihood of hundreds of women and their families depends on preparing mid-day meals. We will carry our utensils and launch a morcha at the Directorate of Education office if self-help groups in Goa are deprived of mid-day meal contracts. Despite no clearance of bills on time, the self-help groups managed to continue to provide the mid-day meals by availing loans and even when rates were meagre. There are no complaints from students and schools so why does the government decide on handing over the mid-day meal contract to outsiders and NGOs?”
-SANTOSH NAIK
Mid-day meal: From availing loans to pawning their gold, the fate of women working for SHGs hangs in balance
Self-Help Groups want to continue providing service from July 1; feel it is their responsibility not to keep the students hungry; having no other option to sustain, these poor women working with SHGs want govt to take the issue seriously
MARGAO: The mid-day meal issue is not only centred around Goan students, but the fate of a sizable number of women working with the Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to earn their livelihood also hangs in balance. In a shocking revelation it has come to light that pending bills have forced SHGs to take loans and pawn their gold to keep bearing the cost of supplying mid-day meals to students.
A few heads of the SHGs said that they want to continue providing the service from July 1, as they feel that it is their responsibility not to keep the students hungry due to the government’s mismanagement.
SHGs have now urged the government to pay their bills on a monthly basis to avoid inconvenience.
Speaking to O Heraldo, a few of the heads of the SHGs hoped that the government will pay their bills amounting to lakhs of rupees by June- end.
The SHGs informed that there are several female workers who are totally dependent on them to earn their livelihood. Stopping the mid-day meal will result in inconvenience to the families of these women.
It has further been further revealed that these women come from poor families and have no other option to sustain themselves and hence, want the government to take this issue seriously.
“We have no major complaint against the government but what we want is that the government must put in place the system and pay us on a monthly basis so that we continue supplying the meals without any issues,” said Sheela Pednekar, head of the Snehamayi Self-Help Group from Nuvem.
The government is yet to pay Sheela nearly Rs 13 lakh towards the supply of meals.
She stated, “Everything was going smoothly, but suddenly we received no payment which resulted in taking loans and borrowing money to run the operations. I have full faith in the government that our payment will be done by June-end, as assured by the officials.”
Parvati Bandondkar, who runs Naya Seva Self-Help-Group in Loutolim, informed O Heraldo that recently she had taken a loan amount of Rs two-and-half lakh against her gold from a bank so that there is no financial problem to supply the meals.
“Nearly 10 women workers are working under my SHG and for most of them this is the lone source of income. Some are widows and few are the only working women in the family. At the same time I have to take into consideration the fate of nearly four schools,” she said.
Naya Seva Self Help Group has been supplying mid-day meals for the last eight years.
“Yes, we will continue supplying meals to students from July 1, but at the same time the government must pay our dues on time as assured,” she added.
Similarly, Philomena Gaunkar, Head of the Amblimol Self-Help Group from Guirdolim informed O Heraldo that they too will not stop supplying meals from July 1.
“Yes, there is an issue pertaining to the dues but at the same time we too have the responsibilities of hundreds of students on our shoulders,” she added.
Gaunkar too had taken a gold loan recently to continue providing mid-day meals.
“We need to take care of students. We can’t leave them hungry,” Gaunkar said.
Gaukar said, “As on June 23 she received payment of nearly Rs two lakh. An amount of more than Rs six lakh is still pending with the government.”
– MARCOS GONSALVES [email protected]
Unpaid for seven months, Pernem SHGs in dire straits
Say they have availed gold loans and even borrowed money from their relatives to run their daily ops; claim that grocery and vegetable suppliers are not giving them stock as their existing credit amount is yet to be cleared
PERNEM: For almost seven months, the government has delayed the payments of Self-Help Groups (SHG) providing mid-day meals to primary, middle and high schools. When the O Heraldo team visited these self-help groups in Pernem taluka, the members expressed their difficulty in dealing with the situation as they claimed to have not received a single penny in the last several months.
Almost all of these groups have availed loans including gold loans to run their daily operations. Some have even borrowed money from their relatives and from other sources.
They claimed that even the grocery and vegetable suppliers are not giving them more stock as their existing credit amount is yet to be cleared.
“The Government should understand this situation on humanitarian grounds and release the money. The pending bill of each group is almost Rs 10 lakh and above. In such a situation some have even purchased machinery on EMIs,” they claimed.
They feel that the department wants to hand over the scheme to NGOs.
Neelkamal Mahila Udyog, a SHG from Sawalwada, Pernem which supplies food to 21 schools from Pernem to Patradevi. This group has 10 members working for the last 22 years. The members of this group claimed the last payment they received was in September 2022.
When questioned about how they are coping with their daily expenses, they said that they have availed of a gold loan from the bank as nothing works on credit. For everything right from grocery to cooking gas to other expenses, cash is required.
“We have also bought a roti-making machine on a bank loan. Several meetings took place but each time what we received was only an assurance. If we question them, they blame us. The government is only talking about making Goa Atmanirbhar but is not working towards it,” the members claimed.
“Earlier the payments were cleared within three months but now it’s been seven months that the payments are pending. We are having sleepless nights as we have to pay the loans availed from different sources. We have pending bills for groceries and vegetables. Every month we have to arrange money for LPG cylinders, delivery vehicles, rent, etc. We are spending our hard-earned cash and the money borrowed from our relatives as the banks are not giving us loans with zero balance in the accounts,” said a member of the Omkar Mahila Mandal, a self-help group.
This group provides mid-day meals to schools right from Morjim to Tuem.
“We are told that by June 30, the payments will be cleared. We are waiting for that day to come”, the member said.
The members of another group from Arambol have availed of personal loans and have borrowed money from their friends or relatives as loan applications were rejected due to the huge amount.
– ASMITA POLJI [email protected]
