The Times of India             27.09.2013

Civic panel nod to midday meal plan

NASHIK: The standing committee of the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) on Thursday gave its nod to the proposal of the civic administration to supply mid-day meals to children of Anganwadis of the municipal corporation across the city through women's self-help groups for the current academic year.

The civic administration admitted to a delay of three months in providing mid-day meals to the children of the Anganwadis due to administrative procedure and said the process of supplying mid-day meals for the next academic year will begin from February, three months ahead of the academic year so that all procedures are in place beforehand.

The civic administration had invited tenders in the last week of July and had finalized 33 women's groups, including 29 self-help groups, three societies and one Mahila Mandal and had tabled the proposal of supplying midday meals to children of Anganwadis across six divisions of the NMC through them.

Standing committee chairman Ramesh Dhongade approved the proposal and also asked the civic administration to immediately start the scheme for the Anganwadi children, most of who are from slum areas and belong to poor families.

Earlier during the meeting, the standing committee members expressed grave concern over delay of three months by the NMC in launching the scheme.

Deputy commissioner (education) Dattatray Gotise said, "The delay in providing mid-day meals was due to administrative procedure. But this will not happen in the next academic year as we will start the process from February itself. Moreover, we have also made a provision to continue providing mid-day meals next year as well through the appointed women's groups until new suppliers are hired; therefore, the children of Anganwadis will continue to get mid-day meals. Moreover, we will inspect the quality of the meals provided by the women's groups twice a month."

There are around 419 Anganwadis across all six divisions of the municipal corporation with total 14,249 children. The academic year in the state starts from June.