Bhubaneswar, July 20: The state government has come up with a monitoring mechanism for the midday meal scheme amid allegations of corruption and lack of proper implementation of the scheme.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik recently reviewed the service in government schools and asked all inspecting officers to visit every school in the state this month.

"The focus is on providing quality food to children and to ensure that not a single child is deprived of the meal," said Gangadhar Sahoo, state nodal officer for the midday meal scheme. The government has also asked the officers to ensure that food was served hot to the students.

Over 46 lakh children from classes I to VIII in 53,000 state-run schools fall under the purview of midday meal. "Monitoring this gigantic scheme on a daily basis and in real time is the key to its successful implementation," Sahoo said.

With an annual budget of Rs 800 crore, children in the state are served rice with one of dalma, soybean chunks or egg curry.

The government has also created a Student Database Management Information System to tag the Aadhaar numbers of the students from classes I to X to the database.

It has set a deadline of July 31 and district education officers have been asked to update the students' Aadhaar numbers within the stipulated time.

"Aadhaar has been made mandatory for students to get midday meal. The planning co-ordinators at the block education officer level will ensure that the database is updated within the stipulated time," said a senior school and mass education officer.

Several schools across the state have reported incidents of finding insects in the meals. Most recently, it emerged that rice infested with weevil was being used to cook the meal in Malkangiri district. Parents of students have held a number of protests against the low-quality food served in schools.

Naveen has also sought a report from officers on the timely distribution of textbooks.

Apart from asking officials to provide two pairs of uniform to schoolchildren by the end of this month, he has also told them to ensure that bicycles were provided to eligible students before August 15.