Pinning the blame on the UPA Government for the partial release of the UNICEF report on immunisation cover in the country, Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Thursday said that the data was submitted to the Ministry long back but was withheld by the Congress after most States contested the findings.
“The report has been stopped since the time of (the) Congress Government. It was submitted before we came into power. It is (being) uselessly dragged into controversy now. Why would we want to hide any report... We get thousands of them every year,” said Maneka, in response to the ongoing controversy of partial release of the immunisation report.
Maneka said that the report was held since the time when Congress leader Krishna Tirath held the charge for Women and Child Development Ministry.
“It is not just about Gujarat. There are good and bad indicators for every State. And almost all of them had objections to it,” she said.
Maneka also said that objections have come in against the survey from various Ministries as well. “The matter was raised in the first Parliament session after we came to power. We wanted to release it then itself but later realised that Ministries themselves don’t want it,” she said.
The survey suggests discrepancies among States in the delivery of immunisation programme.
Maneka said that the report only gave indicators and were not absolute figures. “What is so big about it.. It will help us improve in future and a better planning,” said.
While the national level findings were released by the Government for it suggested an overall improvement in the vaccination programme, the State-level results, which indicated a dip in the immunisation cover were kept under wraps.