Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, May 30: The Central funds worth over Rs 300 crore meant for Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), remained unutilized as most of the District Heads (Programme Officers) of the ICDS Projects of Social Welfare Department, across the State failed to make purchases of nutrition items and ensure supplies to the thousands of Anganwari Centers.
The Department, especially in Jammu region, has completely failed to fulfill its obligations and render its services to the poor children for which purpose this department was raised by the Government of India. Special funds every year are kept at the disposal of the State Governments to provide healthy nutrition to the children of BPL category and the poorest of the poorer class, but these children of the lesser God are being denied their rightful share by the officers at the helm of affairs.
In Jammu division, this supply has not been ensured for the last one year while in district Samba all the 800 Anganwari Centres are running dry for the last two years, because there is no accountability fixed by the Government on the District and Sub Divisional level ICDS officials of the Social Welfare Department.
In some of the districts, a few items were picked up by the officials while three districts including Samba, Jammu and Kathua are totally dry. The FCI rice was lifted by the department last year and issued to the ICDS Centres but without pulses, nutri, grams, recipe items, edible oil, salt, turmeric etc, the only rice can not be cooked and given to the children of the Centres.
An adhoc approach is being adopted by the concerned Project and ICDS officers for running these centres . The Anganwari workers of about a dozen centres in Jammu district when contacted revealed that their supervisors were pressuring them to collect recipe items including potatoes, onions, salt, turmeric etc from the village and ward community for cooking rice and provide something to the children just to attract them as majority of the people have stopped sending their children to the Anganwari Centres.
In is pertinent to mention there that during recent inspection of Anganwari Centres on the directions of DC Rajouri, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary across Rajouri district, it was found that over 600 Centres were locked and in many centers the children were not reporting as they were hardly getting nutrition/ food in the Centres. The reason was non-supply of food and nutrition items. Anganwari workers and helpers also remained unpaid for months together. In Jammu district alone their wages of 7-8 months have not been paid.
Sources in the SWD said that Government is providing funds to the tune of hardly Rs 100 crores every year to the Department for making purchases of food and nutrition items for the poor children in the age group of 3 to 6 years in nearly 30,000 Anganwadi Centres under Integrated Child Development Scheme ( ICDS) in various projects. Under new order pregnant women will also be supplied food and nutrition by the ICDS wing.
Fifty percent of the total amount is provided to the State in the beginning of the new Financial year. The amount keeps lying with the officers at the helm of affairs but they do not bother to hold Purchase Committee meetings and finalise the rate contracts for months together. This old practice deprived the Anganwari Centres children of the food and nutrition items. They do it at the end of the financial year in hush- hush manner and in the process many substandard and adulterated items also get cleared with the nexus at lower level.
It further revealed that after nutrition scam was unearthed in district Samba and many food items purchased by the District Committee were proved substandard about two years ago, the District Purchase Committee thereafter failed to procure food and nutrition items for the children of over 800 Anganwadi Centres in the district. The case is also pending in the State Vigilance department and the ‘official-contractors’ nexus was also unearthed during the investigation by the agency.
Sources said for this financial year, 2017-2018, the Central Government provided funds in advance for making purchases and the Finance Department in its circular issued in various newspapers during second week of April issued advisory not only to the SWD but some other departments to complete the tender process before May 15, 2017, failing which they will have to write to the Finance Department for seeking permission by giving valid and justified reasons for the delay. But this May month is over, no ICDS project in the region could finalize the tender process till today. The old order regarding making purchases through DCs has been withdrawn and new system of making purchases through Villager Level Committees could not be set in motion despite the lapse of five months.
The result is that, lakhs of children of the Anganwari centres, especially in Jammu region, are suffering badly. The money being sent by the Government of India for them is going to be unspent or diverted to the other sectors. The District Administration Samba failed to utilize Rs 12 crore in last two years meant for purchase of food and nutrition items while the annual allocation of district Jammu alone is over Rs 25 crore in terms of food and nutrition items for about 1.6 lakh children.
Minister for Social Welfare Department, Sajjad Gani Lone when contacted said that old system of purchases through Deputy Commissioners is being replaced by the new system through Village Level Committees . He said that 15-member Village Level Committee of concerned area will make purchases and they will also monitor the quality of the nutrition/ diet being provided to the community children at Anganwari Centres. He said it will make system transparent and accountability of local community people would also increase.
“We want to clean the system and break the `official-contractor nexus’. Our concern is to provide good and healthy diet to the children for which Union Government is providing about Rs 300 crores every year. But unfortunately as per the track record of last many years, it has been found that officers concerned are unable to spend even Rs 100 crore through ICDS projects.
A major portion of these funds remains unutilized. The Village Committees would be set up soon and they will start function shortly. The new system takes some time to move on rails. Some people within may play `spoil sport’ but despite all odds the work is in progress to set up committees,” Mr Lone maintained.
Project Director ICDS, J&K, Talat Parvez, when contacted, however, claimed that in many districts of Kashmir food and nutrition items were supplied to majority of Anganwari Centres. He said in Jammu division complete supply could not be made as the department has switched over to new system of purchases through Village Level Committees as announced by the Minister during recent Assembly Session.
The process of setting up committees is going on and concerned CDPOs and Supervisors are on the job. It may take some time. He claimed that by the end of July this year, it is hoped that this task will be completed. When asked would you keep these Anganwadi centres again dry up to July, Parvez said some internal arrangement will be made to ensure supplies to the centres till the new system is put in place.
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