Vigilance and Enforcement sleuths from Anantapur raided mid-day meal kitchens and Anganwadi centres in two villages and found both places ‘not running as per norms and in most unhygienic conditions’.
The sleuths formed two teams and made surprise visits on Saturday checking physical conditions and registers at Yerragunta in Kannekal mandal and Uddehal in Bommanahal mandal and found a number of discrepancies, said Regional Vigilance and Enforcement Officer G. Ramanjaneyulu.
At Yerragunta in the Zilla Parishad High School the Khaza Bee Agency was serving Chitrannam (lemon rice) instead of a full meal as per menu. They were supposed to serve cooked rice, vegetables, dal and boiled eggs. Out of listed 489 students, only 31 were coming to school to have food. While they were supposed to serve boiled eggs, the agency was providing raw eggs along with meals. When the sleuths checked their physical stocks and cross-checked it with registers, they did not find anything stored in the kitchen except 350 kg of rice. There was no drinking water being provided and the cooking and eating places were seen in unhygienic conditions, Mr. G. Ramanjaneyulu said.
At the Anganwadi centre in the same village, 25 children were enrolled, but only 18 were attending.
In the kitchen, there was discrepancy between the stocks as per the register and the physical stocks. There was a shortage of physical stocks of eggs, Bengal gram, palm oil and arhar dal (pigeon peas) and no proper records were maintained, he said.
Mismatch of attendance
In Bommanahal mandal, at the Mandal Parishad Primary School, Uddehal, out of 266 students only 56 were taking food but attendance was shown as 73. The Naga Jyothi agency was supplying only vegetable rice in unhygienic conditions instead of a whole meal. Here too eggs were not boiled and supplied raw. They had a stock of 200 kg of rice and no other ingredients for cooking, nor drinking water. At the agency’s own property they had stocked 2,329 eggs.
In the Anganwadi centre in the same village, there was a discrepancy between stocks and records. All items were found in excess of that shown in the register.
