ICDS food supply stopped for shortage of rice & pulses

Statesman News Service

MALDA, 8 DEC: Distribution of cooked food remains suspended for the past two months in all Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) centres in Malda district. Many of the ICDS centres are not distributing cooked food due to shortage of supply of rice and pulses. To make matters worse, the ICDS district programme officer Mr Sudhanshu Kumar Sinha is not aware of the situation. Caught unaware when questioned on the subject, he later inquired only to be informed that besides English Bazaar areas, distribution of cooked food remains suspended across the district for the past two to three months. Passing the buck on the Essential Commodities Supply Corporation for the mess, the official said: “The department had procured required raw material from co-operatives but the Essential Commodities Supply Corporation failed to supply the raw material on time, affecting distribution of cooked meals”.The DPO also said: “The ECSC does not supply rice and pulses at low rates. It always tries to supply materials to us when the government announces high rate of raw materials. The ECSC started supplying rice and pulses to us after the government announced higher rate for the two items,” he said.