Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

9,000 vacancies being filled, says Minister

Coimbatore: Minister for Social Welfare Geetha Jeevan said the Government had already issued orders to fill 9,000-odd vacancies in noon meal centres, anganwadis and Integrated Child Development Centres (ICDS).

Ms. Jeevan told reporters on Thursday that in the last two years, the State Government had already filled 40,000 vacancies.

To a query on officials demanding a percentage of financial assistance under the various Government schemes, the Minister said if there were specific charges action could be initiated.

On the demands of the noon meal and anganwadi workers seeking job permanency and government employee status, she said already the Chief Minister had announced a slew of concessions and since they were part-time employees not appointed through employment exchanges, their demands required a policy decision at the highest level.

On the issue of egg suppliers forming a syndicate and quoting highest bids for supplying eggs to the noon meal centres, the Minister said the District Collectors had been empowered to procure eggs.

There were certain cases where some districts were getting eggs at a lowest rate than what was fixed by the co-ordination committee. In certain districts, the cartels were found to be quoting the highest rate.

The Collectors would be asked to sort out the problem and eradicate cartels or syndicates. To children who prefer to be vegetarian not opting for egg, the Government had introduced banana and in the State 72 lakh children had opted for eggs while a few thousands had opted for banana.

The procurement of banana was being done at the local level by the noon meal or anganwadi workers, she said.

Under the Cradle Baby Scheme, the State had 3,044 children irrespective of the gender and the Government was providing food, shelter, clothing and education to the homes and orphanages. Awareness programmes were being conducted to end female infanticide in districts such as Salem and Dharmapuri while awareness programmes on the ill-effects of child marriages were also being conducted, she said.

Coimbatore had benefitted more under the Girl Child Protection Scheme, she added.

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