Fund crunch hits Attapady nutrition meal programme

KOZHIKODE: The Attapadi nutritional meal programme, launched by the Government with much fanfare following a controversy over the deaths in tribal hamlets due to malnutrition, is now being left to fend for itself. With payment backlog and no wages for anganwadi workers who ran the community kitchen, this programme in many tribal villages in Attapadi has fallen on bad days. Some villages are trying to collect money from their communities in a bid to keep the kitchens going.

The State Government was forced to implement a nutrition meal programme in these tribal hamlets after several people, mostly children, died of malnutrition in Attapady. The Integrated Tribal Development Project report had also pointed out the alarming rate of malnutrition in these tribal hamlets and also the deaths. The National Human Rights Commission had also issued notice to the Government after it found that 38 children had died of malnutrition and 849 patients were undergoing treatment for the same condition.

“We have not stopped the scheme but there are problems in getting the payment and also wages for the workers. As a result, many areas have not got their stock to run the programme. The Kudumbasree members are given the power to purchase and run the community kitchen. But due to the delay in payment, they are not in a position to purchase new stock,” said Seema Bhaskaran, Mission Director, National Rural Livelihood Mission.

The tribals said the community kitchens had stopped functioning about four months ago. “Only a few are functioning and they are run by the communities themselves. The situation is back to square one in Attapadi,” Marimuthu, a resident of Attapadi said.

Seema Bhaskaran said communities could not run the kitchen by finding funds on their own. “We have not closed down any kitchen and it will run full throttle once the payments are released”, she added.