Source: thehindu.com
Toddlers in anganwadis in Bidar district will soon get ghee as part of their balanced diet. The district administration will tie up with the Karnataka Milk Federation to provide ghee to 1,900 anganwadis in five taluks. This is expected to address the issue of malnutrition prevalent among poor children in the district.
According to a latest survey by the Women and Child Development Department, there are around 62,223 moderately malnourished and 357 severely malnourished children in the district. Officials estimate that most of them go to angawadis. The provision of ghee would help them, officials said.
“Anganwadis are authorised to procure materials locally. That will reduce logistics costs and solve the problem of storage to a great extent,” Anurag Tewari, Deputy Commissioner, said. Mr. Tewari and other district-level officials have held two rounds of discussions regarding the programme with KMF officials.
“Estimates of ghee required are being worked out. We are asking anganwadis to pool their resources and buy ghee from the local milk cooperative society. Supply should start in one month,” Mr. Tewari, who is holding charge of the zilla panchayat chief executive officer, said.
“It is a welcome proposition for us. We will be happy to be involved in reducing malnutrition among children of our district,” Revanasiddappa Patil, president, Bidar-Gulbarga-Yadgir milk union, said.
The district administration has taken several steps towards combating malnutrition.
As per the recommendations of the Justice N.K. Patil committee, the government has set up a special care centre for malnourished children in the district hospital. ASHA workers and anganwadi works have been told to identify malnourished children and ensure that they get the benefits.
Agencies like the District Legal Services Authority and district administration have organised awareness programmes on malnutrition. The State government has agreed to distribute milk and eggs to anganwadis in Hyderabad Karnataka region to help even the moderately malnourished children.
Comments
comments
