The Union Government has provided a total of Rs1,05,140.71 lakh to the State under the Supplementary Nutrition Project (SNP) during the last three years and, of this, Rs1, 04,375.10 lakh has been spent, informed Women and Child Development Minister Usha Devi in the State Assembly on Wednesday.
In response to a question of Congress MlA Chiranjib Biswal, the Minister said a total of 38,564 severely malnourished children in the 6 month- six year age group have been benefited. Each malnutrition-affected child in the age group is getting nutritious food (tiffin, cooked food, egg and chhatua) for 25 days a month.
During these three years, while highest Rs16,838.45 lakh was spent in Ganjam district, Rs13,319.34 lakh in Mayurbhanj, Rs13,238.73 lakh in Baleswar, Rs10,838.37 lakh in Keonjhar, Rs10,743.62 lakh in Kalahandi and Rs10,167.18 lakh was spent in Jajpur district.
Similarly, Rs10,095.35 lakh was spent in Koraput and Rs9,661.38 lakh in Cuttack, Rs9,563.59 lakh in Balangir, Rs9080.63 lakh in Sundargarh, Rs8666.04 lakh in Nabarangpur, Rs8,451.77 lakh in Bhadrak, Rs7950.47 lakh in Puri, Rs7556.3 lakh in Khordha, Rs7511.14 lakh in Kendrapada, Rs7,156.49 lakh in Bargarh, Rs6401.96 lakh in Angul, Rs5,924.44 lakh in Rayagada, Rs5,528.44 lakh in Dhenkanal, Rs5,216.42 lakh in Kandhamal, Rs4249.52 lakh in Gajapati, Rs4664.75 lakh in Malkangiri, Rs4,429.51 lakh in Jagatsinghpur, Rs4334.19 lakh in Sambalpur, Rs4013.16 lakh in Nayagarh, Rs4,000.16 was spent in Nuapada district.
The districts in which far low amounts were spent are Sonepur (Rs3236.34 lakh), Jharsgudua (Rs2142.46 lakh), Rs1885.58 lakh in Boudh and the lowest amount of Rs1,791 lakh was spent in Deogarh district.
To a related question of BJD MlA Manohar Randhari, the Minsiter said DSWOs have been instructed to identify inaccessible/hard-to-reach pockets within their districts and provide ICDS in cases of malnutrition.
The Government has sanctioned 1,081 Anganwadi Centres and 200 Mini-Anganwardi Centres in SC/ST and minority community areas to check malnutrition.