Integrated Child Development Scheme Scam: Meghalaya Social Welfare Dept under scanner
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Social Welfare Department has come under the scanner for allegedly supplying substandard, unhealthy food to children under the Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) through Anganwadi centres at the cost of Rs 24 crore for the last two years in blatant violation of Supreme Court orders.
According to Tarun Bhartiya, the Shillong-based Advisor to the office of the Commissioners of the Supreme Court in the Right to Food case, ICDS which is the flagship programme of the Government of India to reduce child malnutrition, is in shambles in Meghalaya as independent tests have confirmed that the food products being supplied under the SNP are substandard.
The office of the Commissioners of the Supreme Court, headed by Harsh Mander and NC Saxena, is based in New Delhi.
“The Meghalaya Social Welfare Department rather than using the SNP under the ICDS to fight shockingly high levels of child malnutrition and abysmal maternal health, has been in collusion with unscrupulous contractors/manufactures, bureaucrats and politicians who have used the programme to siphon off money and supply substandard and unhealthy nutritional supplements to children,” a statement issued jointly by the city-based Freedom Project led by Angela Rangad and CSWO (Agnes Kharshiing group) said, adding that the nutritional supplements they provide are precooked instant noodles containing Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), malted milk product and milk powder.
As per the report submitted to the Supreme Court last month by the Commissioners of the Supreme Court, there is a significant gap between State specifications and results of the laboratory tests done in Hyderabad.
For the nutrient analysis, samples were collected from four states – Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Meghalaya – by the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad.
Recently, the office of the Commissioners of the Supreme Court after a writ petition against the Union Government, found large-scale mafia like nexus between contractor/manufacturer, bureaucrats and politicians in the supply items under Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) of ICDS in states like Maharashtra, UP, Gujarat, Karnataka among others.
Interestingly, Continental Milkose, which is the supplier of milk powder and malted food (Choco Malt) in Meghalaya, came under the scanner because they supply items under ICDS programme in Uttar Pradesh.
“The Meghalaya Social Welfare department procures milk powder and malted food (Choco Malt) directly from a manufacturer called Continental Milkose, a company from Dibrugarh, Assam owned by SS Agarwal and Deepak Agarwal with a factory at Noida Dadri, Uttar Pradesh,” Bhartiya, who is part of the Freedom Project, mentioned.
The Department, however, had claimed that by procuring directly from manufacturers the department is following the Supreme Court order and are also ensuring supply of high quality nutritious food to the children, adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating mothers in Meghalaya.
As per the Supreme Court order, the children coming to Anganwadi Centres (AWC) will have to be served hot cooked meals and take home rations. The order also stated that in order to stop contractors from unscrupulously manipulating and profiting from this programme, food items shall be procured using local women’s groups and SHGs among others.
Initially, the State Government followed the Supreme Court orders and engaged local women groups and SHGs to procure and supply the food items to Anganwadi Centers.
“But within a year and with active collusion of bureaucrats and politicians, contractors were allowed a backdoor entry in the name of being manufacturers,” Bhartiya said, adding that this was done without any public knowledge or public announcement and without any tender process.
He also alleged that the suppliers not only started supplying pre-cooked instant noodles with MSG (Yummy Instant Noodles) but also unknown brands of biscuits, milk powder and malted food.
It may be reminded that in 2009-2010 the Social Welfare Department ‘illegally’ supplied Yummy Instant noodles under the SNP at a cost of Rs 8, 02, 82,951.
It was only after public outcry and audit remarks that the department stopped the supply of noodles and biscuits. However, this did not stop the department from spending additionally on milk powder and malted milk product.
“Meghalaya spends more than seventy five per cent of Rs 16 crore earmarked annually for the Supplementary Nutrition Programme to pay to illegal contractors/manufacturers who supply substandard and poisonous food,” Bhartiya added.
