Kota — More than 3,000 quintals of wheat and rice meant for schoolchildren under the mid-day meal programme have allegedly gone missing in Rajasthan's Kota district, after an Education Department enquiry found that grain lifted in full from a government warehouse never reached the schools it was allocated to.
Source: The420
The missing stock — 1,844 quintals of wheat and 1,369 quintals of rice, 3,213 quintals in all — relates to allocations for government schools in Kota district under the National Nutrition Support Programme for the second quarter, July to September 2026. The entire stock was collected from Central Warehouse No. 1 in Kota between July 14 and July 21, according to the enquiry.
Source: The CSR Journal
How the shortfall surfaced
Transporting the grain to schools was the job of Bhairavnath Roadways, a firm based in Himmatnagar, Gujarat, which held a work order at Rs 32.06 per quintal. Schools then began complaining of shortages in the grain supplied for mid-day meals even though the full allocated stock had already been lifted. The Education Department sought block-wise reports and compared what schools were allocated with what they actually received — and the comparison produced the 3,213-quintal shortfall. The missing grain is valued at around Rs 81 lakh at government rates and between Rs 1 crore and Rs 1.10 crore at open-market rates.
Source: The420
District Education Officer Roop Singh Meena said the department had repeatedly written to the logistics department and that schools hold complete receipts for the supplies they did receive. The logistics department issued show-cause notices on October 14 to Narayanlal Shankar Lal Khatik, proprietor of Bhairavnath Roadways, and to Shailendra Sharma, an authorised person associated with the firm, asking for a response by 10.30 am on October 15; neither replied within the deadline, according to the reports.
Source: The420
Police case and what happens next
On the logistics department's complaint, an FIR was registered at Nayapura police station in Kota, and a police case has been filed under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 318(4), 316(2), 316(3) and 61(2)(a), which relate to cheating and criminal breach of trust. Police say the investigation will focus on what happened to the wheat and rice after it was collected from the warehouse, and whether the stocks were diverted or misappropriated. The alleged diversion remains under investigation and no court has given any finding in the case.
Source: The CSR Journal