Lucknow, Aug 6 - The association of village heads of Uttar Pradesh has threatened to stop the distribution of midday meals in primary schools because they can no longer pay for the cooking with the Rs.2.50 they get per child. And they haven't even been paid this amount for a long time.

The Pradesh Gram Pradhan Sangh (PGPS), as the association is called, says this Rs.2.50 per student, called 'conversion cost', is a two-year-old rate and inadequate to cover the cost.

Out of this Rs.2.50, '40 paise per head is given to the cook and the remaining Rs.2.10 is utilised in buying sugar, oil, vegetables, milk, spices, etc. It is now impossible to arrange food,' said R.K. Singh, head of Pinhat Miranpur Pinvat village near the state capital.

The midday meal scheme is the world's largest nutritional support programme, under which primary school children get free lunch in government-run schools all over India. Food grains are given free to the schools.

Despite this, over 30 percent of primary schools in Uttar Pradesh have not been successful in starting the scheme till now and a similar number of schools serve food only twice a week, R.K. Singh said.

'The supply of poor quality food grain also adds to our woes,' he added.

A couple of days ago, over 50 children in villages of Siddharth Nagar district fell ill after consuming their midday meal.