Several government primary schools across the district have stopped serving mid-day meals to students because of months-long delays in payments to vendors, while others have warned of suspending the service if their pending bills are not cleared.

School authorities said vendors had refused to supply ingredients on credit, leaving them unable to continue preparing meals.

School authorities said funds were available with the department, but procedural delays and problems with the payment portal had held up payments to vendors.

Davinder Singh Sidhu, district senior vice-president of the Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF), said Government Primary School (GPS), Kothe Ralan, stopped serving mid-day meals on October 12 after waiting five months for payments. “We informed the block primary education officer (BPEO) about the same. The school has been left with no option but to stop serving meals until the bills are cleared,” Sidhu said.

He added that GPS, Mandi Jagraon, had also stopped serving meals, while GPS (Girls), Agwar Gujjran, was likely to follow suit.

“We were earlier asked to wait until October 4 and were assured that vendors would receive their pending payments. However, nothing has happened so far. Vendors have now refused to supply ingredients on credit, forcing schools to stop serving meals from Monday,” Sidhu said.

Government Primary School, Moti Nagar, is also facing difficulties because of the delayed payments. Its head teacher, Sukhdhir Singh Sekhon, said only the ration bill had been uploaded by the BPEO, but the payment was still pending. Bills for other items, including vegetables and fruits, had not yet been uploaded.

“Due to the delay, we will have to stop serving mid-day meals from Tuesday if the situation does not improve,” Sekhon said.

Ramanjeet Singh Sandhu, block primary education officer, Mangat-1, said the transition to a new portal had increased the workload of BPEOs and delayed payments.

“Earlier, funds were released to schools, which then paid the vendors. Under the new system, vendors will be paid directly after we receive their bills and forward them to the higher authorities. The portal was also running slowly over the past few days, but bills have now started getting cleared,” he said.