70% under-6 Ghaziabad kids malnourished!
28 Sep 2012 1:14 AM GMT
In what can be called a tragic situation for children in Ghaziabad, 24,399 children suffer from malnutrition despite having 1,378 Anganwadi centres in the city.
These centres were started by the Indian government in 1975 as part of the Integrated Child Development Services program to combat child hunger and malnutrition.
An RTI filed to district office of Ghaziabad by an NGO, Prerna Seva Sansthan, reveals that nearly 70 per cent of the children between 0-6 years in the city are malnourished.
Chairperson of the NGO, Tarun Gupta, said, ‘Despite giving so much revenue to the state, children of our city are suffering and that too in such a large number. The system must be corrupt, as with such an exorbitant amount spent every month on these Anganwadi centres, the result is dismal. These malnourished children figures are gloomy and it is only on papers. In reality, the figures would be much higher.’
The RTI also revealed that per month, in the name of salary, around Rs 4,500 is spent by the government on Anganwadi centres and that means around Rs 62 lakh is the monthly salary expenditure by the district on all these centres.
‘We also found that the awareness among mothers about nutrition is very low, with a whopping 72 per cent never having heard the word malnutrition’, said Gupta.
When contacted, an Anganwadi official said, ‘The basic reason is the quality of food that these centres provide to the children. It is not up to the mark. Children refuse to eat it and then these centres sell the food to outsiders.’
Sources said in Vijay Nagar, there was a case where an Anganwadi centre was caught selling the food to outsiders.
Gupta also alleged that many Anganwadi centres are running only on paper, depriving the children of even basic facilities.
These centres were started by the Indian government in 1975 as part of the Integrated Child Development Services program to combat child hunger and malnutrition.
An RTI filed to district office of Ghaziabad by an NGO, Prerna Seva Sansthan, reveals that nearly 70 per cent of the children between 0-6 years in the city are malnourished.
Chairperson of the NGO, Tarun Gupta, said, ‘Despite giving so much revenue to the state, children of our city are suffering and that too in such a large number. The system must be corrupt, as with such an exorbitant amount spent every month on these Anganwadi centres, the result is dismal. These malnourished children figures are gloomy and it is only on papers. In reality, the figures would be much higher.’
The RTI also revealed that per month, in the name of salary, around Rs 4,500 is spent by the government on Anganwadi centres and that means around Rs 62 lakh is the monthly salary expenditure by the district on all these centres.
‘We also found that the awareness among mothers about nutrition is very low, with a whopping 72 per cent never having heard the word malnutrition’, said Gupta.
When contacted, an Anganwadi official said, ‘The basic reason is the quality of food that these centres provide to the children. It is not up to the mark. Children refuse to eat it and then these centres sell the food to outsiders.’
Sources said in Vijay Nagar, there was a case where an Anganwadi centre was caught selling the food to outsiders.
Gupta also alleged that many Anganwadi centres are running only on paper, depriving the children of even basic facilities.
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