Raise funds for supplementary nutrition, Himachal minister Shandil urges Centre

Health Minister Dhani Ram Shandil today urged the Central Government to increase the funds of supplementary nutrition it was providing to help fulfil the dietary requirements of children.

He participated in a virtual meeting chaired by Union Minister for Women and Child Development Annapurna Devi with the ministers of various states to assess the progress of different schemes of her ministry. The Union Minister assured the participants of all possible support to the states and to sympathetically consider all their genuine demands.

Shandil said that keeping in view the importance of proper nutrition during childhood, the state government was working proactively to meet the nutritional needs of children. He added that under the Anganwari Seva Yojana, the state government had received Rs 66 crore recently while it had already spent Rs 113 crore from its own resources towards the Central share. He urged the Union Minister to release the second installment of funds.

Shandil said that under the special nutrition programme, the Centre had provided Rs 40.13 crore this year and Rs 15.16 crore of it had already been spent. He added that pre-fabricated structures should be included for the construction of anganwari buildings in like Himachal.