Ration for anganwadi centres rots due to rain, officials helpless

Lakhs of gunny bags of ration, including wheat and porridge, lying at the godown-cum-office of the district programme officer at Shimlapuri here, are being damaged in the rain as the officials watch helplessly. This ration is meant to be distributed among children and pregnant mothers at aanganwadi centres. Due to the incessant rain in the past 10 days many of these bags were damaged after rainwater seeped into the godown.

Talking to The Tribune, District Programme Officer Gurmeet Singh said he could hardly do anything in the prevailing situation as the seepage in the walls and ceilings could not be stopped immediately after the rains.

“There are many issues, which need to be addressed. Rat menace is one, another is an acute staff shortage. Out of lakhs of gunny bags, if a few get damaged we must not be held accountable. It must also be taken into consideration that we saved lakhs of bags, too. We are disbursing the ration to the anganwadi centres but we cannot fight natural calamities,” said Singh, who claims that he has to take care of both Ludhiana and Jalandhar districts and had taken charge of Ludhiana about 20 days back.

It may be mentioned here that a video of the godown went viral in which the poor state of affairs at the facility came to light. Not just rotting gunny bags were seen in the video but one could spot insects and worms inside many flour bags. After the video went viral, efforts were made to clean the godown and the procedure of sending ration to centres began.

The president of the Anganwadi Association here, Subhash Rani, said the ration was kept at the godown and was never sent to the centres on time. “The authorities get quarterly ration, to be distributed at 2,400 centres, but this never reaches us on time. Now, is it justified to send the stale ration packed with insects to small children or the pregnant mothers? This is uncalled for and the government is playing with the health of the poor and needy,” rued Rani.