Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad Nitesh Patil has said that officials concerned will be held accountable if there are any lapses in the procurement and distribution of nutritional food kits meant for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
He was speaking after a surprise visit to the warehouse storing nutritional food kits at APMC Yard in Dharwad on Monday wherein he randomly checked the food kits for quality and asked the staff to ensure mandatory display of the food packets available and the list of the foodgrains in the packets.
Mr. Patil said that the State Government has been distributing foodgrains and nutritional food kits to children in the six months to three years, three years to six years and school dropouts in the 11 years to 14 years age groups and also to pregnant and lactating mothers. “If there are any lapses in distribution of foodkits, the beneficiaries can directly complain to the district administration,” he said.
He said that committees formed to monitor food distribution will have to compulsorily check quality of foodgrains and then, pack them as per the stipulated quantity. Parents sending their children to anganwadi centres should be informed about the availability of food packets and nutritional kits on a regular basis, he said.
As the scheme is meant to address the problem of malnutrition, the officials of Women and Child Development Department should ensure strict adherence to quality and any lapses will be treated seriously, he said.
Elaborating on nutritional food kits, he said that the kits meant for children in the six months to 3 years age group, should have 500 grams wheat, 500 grams rice, 375 grams ragi, 325 grams tur, 375 grams green gram, 250 grams groundnut and one kilogram jaggery. Malnourished children will also be given three eggs. For children in the three years to six years age group, the same food kits will be given, along with two eggs per week. And, it will be five eggs per week for under-weight children.
For pregnant women and lactating mothers, the kits should have 750 grams wheat, three kilograms rice, 275 grams tur, 400 grams green gram, groundnut chikki 250 grams, jaggery one kilogram, 375 grams sugar, 50 grams masala powder, 250 grams edible oil, 500 grams milk powder and 25 eggs per month, he said.
Emphasising on the need for properly educating beneficiaries and the general public on the scheme, he said that those showing negligence towards their duties will be held accountable for lapses. People could also file complaints directly with the district administration in case of lapses, he added.
