Punjab: Rs 69-cr Poshan scheme smartphones diverted to conduct drug survey

The Punjab Government has diverted 28,515 high-end 5G-enabled smartphones, procured at a cost of nearly Rs 69 crore under the Poshan Abhiyan, to the Rural Development and Panchayat Department for the drug-cum-socio economic survey that began on Wednesday.

The smartphones were purchased by the Department of Social Security, Women and Child Development.

Officials privy to the development said the smartphones had been handed over by the district programme officers (DPOs) of the Social Security Department to the Rural Development and Panchayat Department. The agandwadi workers, for whom the smartphones had been procured, will have to wait till the survey is not complete.

Officials maintained there was no controversy over the diversion of the smartphones. “Central government rules allow convergence of schemes and sharing of the mobiles for different government schemes,” they clarified. A controversy had erupted when the government changed the specifications of the smartphones from 4G to 5G, escalating the procurement cost.

The initial estimate was around Rs 34 crore (including the state’s 40 per cent share). This escalated the cost of procuring smartphones from nearly Rs 34 crore, including the state’s 40 per cent share, to about Rs 69 crore. The Punjab Government bore the additional cost.

Meanwhile, as a result of passing off the smartphones to the Rural Development Department, nearly 26,000 anganwadi workers will have to rely on their personal phones to carry out the massive door-to-door enrolment survey for the Mukh Mantri Mawan Dhiyan Satkar Yojana, scheduled to begin on April 13.

The government will pay the workers Rs 25 per enrolled beneficiary and a phone recharge allowance of ?1,000 to Rs 1,500 to the aganwadi workers. Social Security, Women and Child Development Minister Dr Baljit Kaur said the department was ready to implement the scheme at the earliest. “Upon verification of the beneficiaries, the amount will be disbursed immediately,” she added.

Hargobind Kaur of the Punjab Anganwadi Employees Federation Union expressed concern over the arrangement. “The government must ensure that the Anganwadi workers do not pay from their pocket to enrol the women beneficiaries,” she said.