Government to provide food packs for malnourished mothers and their kids

Kolkata: In a unique initiative, the state Food and Supplies department has tied up with the Health department chalking out elaborate plans to distribute free food grains among mothers and their newborns suffering from malnutrition.

Under this new scheme, the Food Supplies department will distribute various food grains including rice, pulses, wheat and soyabean among mothers and their children on the basis of the list provided by the state Health department.

The State Food and Supplies minister Jyotipriya Mullick said that a pack weighing around 9 kg of food grains will be supplied for the mothers and their babies suffering from malnutrition every month. They would be able to avail the service for one year since a mother gives birth to a child and suffers from malnutrition.

It may be mentioned that many women are found to be suffering from malnutrition as a result of which, when they deliver a baby, he or she also suffers from the same. Most of them belonging to the poor family fail to arrange adequate meals. The state Health department will provide the information to the Food and Supplies department and provide a list mentioning the names of the mothers and their children suffering from malnutrition on the basis of which, the food department will prepare a package for them.

According to the minister, each pack will contain one kg rice, two kg pulses of two different types, one kg soyabean and one kg wheat. One pack would cost the government around Rs 450. The pack will be distributed to the family members on the basis of the coupons distributed by the department against the names of the mothers and their babies. One packet will be distributed among each family in a month and they will be able to avail the benefits for one year, Mullick said on Monday.

He also said that a new scheme would also be launched to ensure that the sex workers of Sonagachi, patients suffering from HIV positive and leprosy do not come out and collect the food grains due to the social stigma attached to them. The Food Supplies department is chalking out plans to provide them with various food grains at free of cost. Deaf and mute people will also be brought under this scheme. A special team will be formed who will visit their homes to provide the food items, Mullick said.