WSHGs to supply items for meals

The Orissa government has decided to entrust the Women Self-help Groups (WSHGs) in the state with the responsibility of supplying items (other than rice) required for preparation of meals in the Anganwadi Centres.

The cooked food is supplied under the Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) component of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS).

The new plan will be initially implemented in five districts like Angul, Bhadrakh, Khurda, Raygada and Sundergarh and gradually expanded to all the districts, official sources said.

It may be noted, the state government had taken a decision in September this year to entrust the WSHGs with the responsibility of supplying items required for preparation of food under the SNP component of ICDS in 30 district head quarter blocks.

Though the government had decided to invite tenders for the remaining blocks for the supply of these items, due to some unavoidable reasons the tendering process couldn’t be held.

In this backdrop, the government has decided to cancel the tenders where the process was started but hasn’t been completed yet. The WSHGs will be asked to supply the items for preparation meals under SNP, sources said.

“The women SHGs will be asked to supply the cooking items of the food except rice under the SNP component but the cooking will continue to be done by the Anganwadi workers as before”, said an official of the state women and child development department.

At present, 314 projects in rural areas and 12 projects in urban areas are being implemented under ICDS. Following the Supreme Court judgement that the contractors can’t be engaged for supply of items under SNP, the state government has chalked out plans to implement it in phases, sources added.