Kendrapara: The district administration has decided to act against school and mass education officials for alleged bungling of midday meal grains.

Authorities of nearly a hundred government-run schools were served showcause notices on discrepancies in midday meal scheme.

The headmasters and headmistresses of government-run upper primary schools are found to have submitted fictitious daily mid day meal intake of students.

The accused school authorities wilfully inflated the students' attendance sheets to bungle the meal's ration quota.

Most of the schools where inflated ration quota was used for midday meal are in Rajnagar block. As many as 73 schools in the block have been found to be indulging in this corruption.

The monthly salary of school heads has been withheld as a disciplinary measure. They have been asked to furnish compliance report stating their stand on the alleged meal bungling.

Earlier, 43 school headmasters have also faced similar action, said block education officer Ananta Kumar Behera.

All the headmasters and headmistresses will be placed under suspension and the bungled MDM quota lifted by them would be realised from their salary, he added.

Disciplinary action had earlier been initiated against five school and mass education department staffs after a departmental inquiry found prima facie evidence in the allegations of diversion of at least 540 rice packets earmarked for the schoolchildren's meal.

According to the records of the school and mass education department, 1.62 lakh students are enrolled in 1,900 government schools in the district. The department believes that this figure is much higher than the actual number of students attending the schools.

Bogus enrolments have become the order of the day. It has two advantages. With increased roll strength, teachers manage to cling on to their choice posting without being disturbed. Besides the meal quota and other student-welfare schemes are also misused by showing inflated numbers.