Indian Express: New Delhi: Friday, June 09, 2017.
Non-profit
organisations, whose services were discontinued under one scheme for serving
food with worms to children are continuing to feed them under a different one all
because of the lack of coordination between two departments of the same
government, an RTI reply has revealed. The Directorate of Education (DoE) had,
in 2013, discontinued services of many NGOs for serving poor-quality mid-day
meals (MDMs). The same NGOs, however, are providing meals under the Integrated
Child Development Service (ICDS) scheme at anganwadi centres run by the Women
and Child Development (WCD) department. Both these schemes, constituted under
the Food Security Act 2013, are aimed at providing nutrition to women and
children. The MDM scheme caters to children up to Class VII and ICDS serves children
up to the age of six years and pregnant and lactating women.
An RTI reply
from the DoE, received in April 2017, shows that services of three suppliers
were discontinued in 2013 after worms were found in the food they had served
children, who had to be hospitalised. However, an RTI reply from the WCD
department, received on January 25, 2017, shows that three of the suppliers
Indcare Trust, The People Welfare Society and Ekta Shakti Foundation whose
services were discontinued in 2013 are still giving food in anganwadis. A total
of 22 NGOs are supplying food to anganwadis. The RTIs were filed by Matri
Sudha, an NGO which works in the field of nutrition and education.
While Indcare
Trust and Ekta Shakti Foundation confirmed that they are part of the ICDS
scheme, The People Welfare Society could not be reached for comment. “Our
services were not discontinued… We finished our terms. As we were not
satisfied, we took the government to court. The case is being heard,” Indcare
chairperson Reeva Sood said. A representative of Ekta Shakti, meanwhile, said
the allegations against them have not been proven. Deputy Director, ICDS, Nisha
Agarwal, said she was not aware of the issue. “I have just joined the
department and will have to check,” she said. The lack of co-ordination between
the two departments does not end here.
An NGO Jan
Chetna Jagriti Arom Shakshik Vikas Manch which was blacklisted by the WCD
department between 2015 and 2016 was supplying mid-day meals in schools until
three months ago. A dead rat was found in the meals provided by the NGO at a
school in Deoli in February and only then were its services discontinued. Nine
children had to be hospitalised. While DoE officials said they were doing their
best to provide quality food, experts said the problem will be streamlined only
with the establishment of the state food commission. “There is a clear lack of
coordination because there is no single agency to monitor these schemes. For
this, the constitution of the state food commission as mandated under the Act
is important. Delhi has not done this so far,” Arvind Singh of Matri Sudha
said.
In 2013, the
then Lieutenant Governor had notified that the Public Grievance Commission will
work as the state food commission. This notification is yet to be implemented,
RTI replies state. A government official, however, claimed the process to set
up the commission is underway.
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