Right to Food Campaign, Odisha, a network of civil society groups working for effective implementation of food security programme in the State, alleged that rough and rotten Chhatua was being distributed in Anganwadi centres (AWCs) in Tileibani block of Deogarh district, where the ICDS was not properly implemented.
A three-member team of the civil society group led by its State convener Pradip Pradhan, who had visited Tileibani block of the district on March 3 and 4 last to monitor the implementation of food security programme and assess compliance with the Right to Education Act (RTE Act) by the Government officials, said Maa Siteswari self help group (SHG) entrusted with the task to distribute Chhatua in the area was resorting to a lot of irregularities.
Though there many complaints against the SHG, the administration was shielding it, alleged the members, who were sure of an unholy alliance of the women SHG with the ICDS officials.
The team also came across the AWCs located in Kaliakhamar and Sardhapur villages of the block being misused by the contractors for their residential purposes. Most of the buildings sanctioned for three years in Kaliakhamar and Khajuri Darah villages were under construction, they found. Many AWCs like Kunjabahal centre was in dilapidated condition while the Mothers’ Committee, which has the mandate to monitor the functioning of the centre and check quality and quantity of food, has been reduced to a puppet in the hands of the Anganwadi workers, the team noted.
The team alleged that quality and quantity of Chhatua was not being monitored by the administration in the block. It was also found that neither rice nor fund was regularly given to the AWCs, they added.
Instead of School Management Committee and Cluster Resource Centre Coordinators (CRCC), whose functions are to monitor the school activities, are found engaged in supervising construction activities of the school. CRCC Madan Mohan Pradhan was found on the spot supervising construction work of Sardhapur School even during summer vacation. Similarly, another CRCC Dileswar Samarth was overseeing the construction works of the Asanlata and Taldihi primary schools, the team said.