WCD department faces staff crunch

There is also a huge staff crunch faced by the WCD department. 133 CDPOs,10 Assistant CDPOs,530 supervisor posts,3005 Anganwadi workers,1893 mini-anganwadi workers and 6721 helpers posts were vacant as per the latest monthly progress report of the department.

“There are hardly any people to do the required work. All important positions have additional charges. The government has sanctioned the filling of 15 per cent posts but it will take another two years for the recruitment to take place. By then an equal number of people will retire,” said officials. To increase number of food testing labs,Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is planning to set up seven food testing laboratories and 37 mobile lab vans across the state. “The project will be done in various phases. We have already acquired land at Nashik and Nagpur,” said officials from the head office of FDA. No mandatory checks conducted at SHGs kitchens either that prepare the midday meals for PMC schools.

Kitchen shed hygiene in the state to be scaled up

After the Bihar midday meal disaster,the Maharashtra Primary Education Department has asked all education officers to scale up hygiene of kitchen sheds in the state. “Now it is rainy season and all parts of the state has seen incessant rains. This also leads to water pollution and there is a high risk of polluted water being used to cook food. Polluted water can lead to many diseases and as a precautionary step,we have asked all Education Officers to make sure that the water used in mid day meals and that provided in schools for drinking in their area is of high quality. Within two days,we will be sending out circulars to all schools in the state to follow precautions while preparing food,” said Mahavir Mane,Director,Primary Education.