Vinod Sharma
Early Times Report
Jammu, Nov 6: The Anganwadi Centers being provided nutrition under Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) across Jammu province, have been running without nutrition supply for the last many months, depriving the inmates of nutrition.
Pertinently, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) is a Union government welfare programme, which provides food, preschool education and primary healthcare to children under six years of age and their mothers, besides the programme is also intended to combat gender inequality by providing girls the same resources as boys.
Sources informed Early Times that though the tender for supplying nutrition under the scheme were to be advertised in the beginning months of every financial year but this year, after the lapse of nearly six months of the financial year, there was no development on the procurement of the nutrition.
"Most of the Anganwadi Centers are running without the supply of nutrition, due to which the Anganwadi workers are remain idle throughout the day", sources said, adding that it was the failure of state government and its executing agencies that despite abundance of funds under the scheme, the nutrition was not provided timely to the deserving children.
Usually only the children of poor families, come to these Anganwadi centers only to get the nutrition but in absence of the nutrition, the poor children are not getting the benefit of the scheme for the last nearly six months, owing to the lacklusture approach of the officials responsible, sources alleged.
Sources alleged that in most of the Anganwadi centers, there was dearth of children as the enrolled children were only on papers and the nutrition supply was usually, blackmarketed by the officials.
An official posted in district Jammu, pleading anonymity admitted that for the last six months, there was no nutrition supply in Jammu district. "Not only in Jammu district but in entire province, the supply of nutrition is not made", he said, adding that due to absence of nutrition, in all the anganwadi centers there was no supply of nutrition. |
