my uttarakhand news Bureau
Roorkee, 5 Mar: Dehradun District Magistrate Savin Bansal conducted a raid at the central warehouse of a ration supplier providing supplies to Anganwadi centres across the state. The warehouse is located at Madi Chowk in Roorkee.
Taking serious note of complaints regarding alleged compromise with the health of children and lactating mothers, the DM personally reached Roorkee and conducted a surprise inspection at the central warehouse. It may be noted that complaints had been received through various sources regarding the poor quality of materials being supplied to Anganwadi centres.
During the inspection of the warehouse, several child labourers were reportedly found working in the premises. Taking serious cognisance of the matter, the DM directed the officials to register a case against the warehouse owner.
During the inspection, the manufacturing and expiry dates mentioned on packets of date fruit and banana chips were found to be suspicious. The quality of eggs and other materials being supplied to Anganwadi centres across Garhwal and Kumaon regions was also found to be questionable. In several items, manufacturing and expiry dates were not mentioned at all. In many packets, instead of printed manufacturing and expiry dates, only stamped dates were found.
The warehouse was also found to be operating without adherence to prescribed standards. There was no proper facility to maintain temperature control in the warehouse. Eggs and other food items belonging to the months of December and January were reportedly being distributed in March.
The inspection also revealed that registers were not updated and the supplier had not issued the required quality certificates for the materials being supplied.
During the raid, the DM also stopped the loaded vehicles that were being dispatched with ration supplies for Anganwadi centres and directed officials to conduct sampling of the materials. Vehicles carrying supplies for Tehri, Uttarkashi and Doiwala were about to leave the warehouse when they were stopped for inspection. The quality of eggs was also found to be doubtful.
The raid at the ration supplier’s central warehouse supplying materials to Anganwadi centres in Garhwal and Kumaon regions was personally conducted by Dehradun District Magistrate Savin Bansal at Madi Chowk in Roorkee.
SDM Sadar Dehradun Hari Giri, District Programme Officer (Child Development) Jitendra Kumar, Tehsildar Surendra Dev, Qanungo Roorkee Sanjay Kumar and other officials were present during the raid. The action was reportedly carried out by DM Bansal in compliance with the directions of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami.
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