SHILLONG, June 16: Refusing to acknowledge Chief Minister’s Conrad Sangma’s clarification and denial of any foodgrain scam in Meghalaya, Thma U Rangli (TUR) on Wednesday alleged that the CM was wilfully misleading the public and at the same time asserting that the SNP ICDS implementation in Meghalaya was indeed a scam.
“Contrary to what the CM claims, the Supreme Court orders since 2004 with the latest being in 2019 emphasises the need to decentralise the scheme and work with women’s groups and SHGs and local communities that can ensure culturally appropriate and locally available food for the ICDS programme the main aim of which is to address the issues of under-nutrition, anaemia and stunting among children and to ensure nutritious food for pregnant and0 lactating mothers,” TUR member Angela Rangad said on Wednesday.
Stating that the NFSA 2013 does not insist on fortified food but on nutritious food, Rangad said, “The Supreme Court had pointed out that the idea of fortification is often used to subvert the scheme and provide a backdoor entry to manufacturers and contractors who have an eye on the Centre’s Rs 5,000-crore annual budget for this programme.”
“Meghalaya’s budget for the feeding component of ICDS for the year 2020-21 was Rs 60.37 crore and the question is why this should be cornered by Continental Milkose, a tainted company,” she said.
“It is shameful that the CM rather than trying to listen to the grievances of the people and understanding the ground reality of this systemic corruption in the programme is bending over backwards to defend Continental Milkose owned by Deepak Agarwal,” she said.
