IMPHAL, March 1: The State government needs to inspect the micronutrient fortified blended food items of the State`™s Integrated Child Development Service which children have refused to eat, stated social worker P Premananda.
Speaking to media persons this evening in connection with his resignation from the post of general secretary of the Manipur Pradesh Trinamool Congress Committee after submitting his resignation letter to party president Th Shyamkumar, he said the micronutrient fortified blended food items supplied by ICDS are suspected of not being of a good quality after children refused to eat it. In this regard, a team led by T Robindro, former candidate from the Thanga assembly constituency will apprise about the various malpractices to Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Meneka Gandhi tomorrow morning.
He further said that the team will inform about the non-compliance of feeding norms for supplementary nutrition by the ICDS of the Social Welfare Department in Manipur to the Union Minister. The team will also request for the revival of 1946 numbers of State women self-help groups constituted for providing hot cook meals for children under the Integrated Child Development Service in Manipur, he added.
The scheme was taken up under the Indian government through the State`™s social welfare department which was directed to provide micronutrient fortified energy dense energy foods to the small children. Unfortunately, the food items are lying unused after children refused to eat it, he said, adding it has created a suspicion of wrong practices while procuring food items by the suppliers.
Now, the food items provided by the ICDS need to be closely watched by monitoring the components contained in the food items. The team which left for Delhi will mount pressure on the Union Minister to instruct the State government for conducting a laboratory test of the nutrient food items, he said.
He added that the Supreme Court of India had directed every State to constitute 1943 numbers of Self-help groups by providing cash payments for rice, vegetables items etc in June 9, 2008. The court`™s directive has benefitted 9706 numbers of Anganwadi workers, he said.
The same trend continued till Match 31, 2012 but after the formation of a new Congress government, the trends suddenly changed. The department has rewarded the tender to M/S Rausheena Udiyog Limited, Paltan Bazaar at Guwahati for supplying the package micronutrient fortified blended food at rupees 120 a kilo which is now being available at a lower price at other States of the country.
He further said that from 2012 till today, children have refused to eat the supplied food items. So, the items need to be properly tested at laboratories to know whether it contains enough nutrients for children and must be kept at places with good storage facilities.
Premananda said he started out as a social worker and joined the Manipur Pradesh Trinamool congress committee under the guidance of Thounaojam Shyamkumar , the president of MPTCC.
After considering the present condition of the Trinamool Congress and after being advised by senior workers from his Constituency, he took the decision to resign from the party after a public meeting on February 20.