Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan today said that single line administration, proper coordination among various departments, effective implementation as well as monitoring of government schemes are necessary to overcome the problem of malnutrition.
The Governor said this during a meeting with state Minister of Tribal Development Madhukar Pichad, Minister for Health Suresh Shetty, held at Raj Bhavan in Pune today. Minister for Women and Child Development Varsha Gaikwad and Minister of State Rajendra Gavit were also present on the occasion.
The meeting was called to discuss the implementation of various welfare schemes for tribals in the scheduled areas with particular focus on malnutrition.
The Governor advised the state government to put a single senior officer in charge of scheduled areas to whom all departments will be answerable in order to have effective monitoring of the situation.
Calling for strengthening the public distribution system in scheduled areas, Sankaranarayanan said that efforts were also necessary to create awareness among tribals about health issues and persuade them against early marriages.
He said that he is planning to convene a larger meeting involving the Chief Minister and other concerned ministers to follow up the issue.
The Governor told the ministers that the President of India is keenly monitoring the progress of implementation of various programmes in the scheduled areas and "therefore urgent steps are needed to reduce the incidence of malnutrition in Maharashtra."
Calling for "time-bound" implementation of PESA (Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, Pichad told him that 50 per cent posts of doctors, especially specialists are lying vacant in the tribal areas.
Blaming the practice of early marriages, superstitions prevailing among some communities as causes for malnutrition, Gaikwad expressed the need to generate social awareness among the people. She also called for efforts to reduce the incidence of school dropouts among tribal girls.
