The Women and Child Development Ministry has dispatched 100 metric tonnes of ready-to-eat food packets for the flood-affected children in Kerala which is witnessing its deadliest deluge in close to a century that has claimed 194 lives, a senior official has said.
The ministry has been working with the Telangana government to get about 100 metric tonnes of supplementary nutrition 'Balamrutham' delivered to Thiruvananthapuram from Hyderabad, the official said.
'Balamrutham' is the weaning food to provide improved supplementary nutrition to children between 7 months and six years. The food is a preparation of wheat, chana dal, milk powder, oil and sugar. It is fortified and thus provides 50 per cent of iron, calcium, vitamins that children require per day.
"This (food packets) is in the form of ready-to-eat dry mixture packed in one kg packets and is suitable for children up to six years," the official said.
The relief teams from Integrated Child Development Services units of the Kerala government are already in position for immediate distribution of the food packets, the official added.
The deluge has dealt a body blow to the scenic state of Kerala, wrecking its tourism industry, destroying standing crops in thousands of hectares and inflicting huge damage to infrastructure.
Kerala plunged deeper into misery with hospitals facing shortage of oxygen and fuel stations running dry.
As per information from the control room of the State Disaster Management, since August 8, 194 people have lost their lives and 36 are missing. Over 3.14 lakh people have been moved to relief camps.
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