Mumbai: To counter malnutrition in tribal areas, the Bombay High Court on Monday directed the State government to consider effective implementation of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), salary issues of cooks, councillors and volunteers and appointment of IAS officers as project officers in 11 tribal zones.
A list of priorities dealing with malnourishment in tribal areas was presented before the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice N.M. Jamdar. These include effective implementation of schemes for nutritional help in children with severely acute malnutrition (SAM) and moderately acute malnutrition (MAM), nutritional supplements or cooked meals. Introduction of commissioning, maintenance of software, collection of accurate information and supervision of schemes for SAM, MAM and cooked meals were also suggested.
The court was hearing PILs on the increase in malnutrition cases in interior Maharashtra, among which one says that posts for anaesthesiologist, gynaecologists and paediatricians were lying vacant, adding to the problem.
In the last hearing, the high court had directed the petitioners to submit a list of important problems on the subject.
Additional government pleader Neha Bhide asked the Bench if affidavits of compliance could be submitted, but the court suggested that priorities be taken into consideration first, and directed that the core committee conduct its meeting on the issue before November 15.
The committee is headed by the Secretary, Women and Child Development department. Five principal secretaries from other departments will monitor issues in implementation of welfare schemes.