Anganwadis under the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) and the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) have not been able to provide meals to nearly 36,000 children since the beginning of April due to a delay in the procurement of edible cooking oil by the government, officials confirmed on Wednesday.
The VMC, which has 399 anganwadis under it, said that the situation is similar across the state as the department of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) has run into a hurdle with procuring civil supplies that are then handed out to agencies who cook and distribute meals to the children.
On Wednesday, VMC Opposition leader Ami Ravat visited an anganwadi in Navayard, after receiving complaints from parents that their wards were not served meals for several days.
Ravat, who also took along some food items for the children of the anganwadi, said, “When I inquired into the problem, I was told that the government has not yet dispatched cooking oil to be handed out to agencies, which is why they are unable to cook.”
Vadodara ICDS program coordinator, Sarla Amin, said that the issue has been taken up with the ICDS Department in Gandhinagar. “We receive the supplies every two or three months. We have received grains and other items as usual but the cooking oil, edible groundnut oil, has not reached us yet and thus we have been unable to hand it out to the agency,” Amin told the Indian Express.
“We have informed the ICDS commissioner about the issue… The problem should be sorted in a couple of days. It is not true, however, that the children were left hungry. We managed to source their meals through donors,” she added.
VMC has two agencies that cook and distribute meals to anganwadis — Akshay Patra and Tara Mandal. According to VMC medical officer for health, Dr Devesh Patel, the procurement issue began on April 1, after the government directed the civic bodies to cease individual procurement, an arrangement that had been in place for six months until March 31.
“The civic bodies were allowed to locally source the supplies for a period of six months until March 31 due to Covid-19 curbs. Thereafter, as per the government directive, we have to revert to the original practice of collecting the supplies from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and the supplies are procured by the state government,” said Patel.
“We have locally managed to coordinate with NGOs and organisations to ensure that the children did not go hungry,” Patel said adding all districts and civic bodies across the state were awaiting the delivery of the edible oil consignment.
Ravat, however, is not convinced about the civic body’s claim. “If children were being fed, the parents would not complain. The task of providing meals to the children in anganwadis is of the government through its appointed agencies. The fact that these agencies have not cooked meals since the beginning of April means that the children have not received meals,” Ravat said.
“Whether VMC managed to source meals or not is debatable and cannot be substantiated… This is a serious lapse on part of the government of a state where malnutrition is rampant,” she added.
In Surat, SMC standing committee chairman of Paresh Patel said oil and rice had been in “short supply for few days”, but assured that the supply will resume on Thursday from Gandhinagar.
“From tomorrow, the supply will be smooth. The Akshay Patra Foundation supplies food to anganwadis in Surat. We have also tied up with Sumul Dairy and from April 18, 26,000 children in 1093 aanganwadis in Surat will get fresh healthy food with milk,” he said.
Mohammed Shahid, secretary, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department of the state government, told The Indian Express, “Though this issue falls under the purview of Gujarat State Civil Supplies Corporation, I am aware of it. The NGOs who provide semi-cooked food to the anganwadis are supposed to generate challans for lifting the edible oil from the godowns. The order has been placed a month ago and the supply is on. There is perhaps only one NGO in Vadodara, which is facing a supply problem. That has been taken care of.”
The Gujarat State Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd (GSCSC) buys edible oil (refined cottonseed and groundnut oil) and provides it to the NGOs. This purchase is done from the open market on behalf of ICDS, through an e-auction since December 2012. The order is usually placed for procurement needed for six months.
Once the procured order reaches government godowns after quality testing, the NGOs collect it, for which ICDS generates the permit. GSCSC, which is a wholly-owned entity of the Gujarat government, carries out procurement, storage, and distribution of wheat, rice, pulses, and edible oil under the mid-day meal scheme.
“Seventy per cent of the six months supply of edible oil for Vadodara has already been provided. It was only a matter of coordination at the district level,” Shahid added.
In Surat, too, there was an issue in the generation of challans which hampered edible oil supply. The Surat district collector held a meeting with the NGOs and asked them to issue challans and lift the edible oil from the godowns of GSCSC.
KK Nirala, commissioner, Women and Child Development Department, did not respond to calls and text messages.
