Fake trucks, false date and corruption: Madhya Pradesh ration scheme under scanner after auditor report
India Today
The state auditor in Madhya Pradesh has found irregularities in the Take Home Ration (THR) government scheme that was launched to provide much-needed nutrition to school-going girls and women.
The Madhya Pradesh government's Take Home Ration (THR) scheme is caught up in a storm after the state auditor found multiple levels of corruption, irregularities in the identification of beneficiaries, production, and distribution, costing taxpayers crores of rupees.
The Madhya Pradesh Accountant General has pointed towards a massive scam in the ration scheme through which supplementary nutritional food is provided to children aged between six months and three years, pregnant and lactating mothers, and Out of School Adolescent Girls (OOSAG) aged between 11 and 14 years.
In a damning 36-page report accessed by India Today, the state auditor revealed that vehicles such as motor cycles, cars, autos, and tankers were recorded as trucks that were used to transport rations.
"Six THR manufacturing plants claimed to have transported 1125.64 metric tonnes of THR, costing Rs 6.94 crore. Verification of the vehicle database revealed that these trucks used were actually registered as motorcycles, cars, autos, and tankers, or the trucks do not exist at all," the report said.
The report also mentioned that the school education department estimated the Out Of School Adoloscent Girls (OOSAG) for the year 2018-19 at 9,000, but the women and child welfare department, without conducting any baseline survey, estimated that there were 36.08 lakh such children. This too was presumed to be a fake figure by the directorate, which estimated OOSAGs in the state at 5.5 lakh.
During the audit, it was also found that at 49 Anganwadi centres in eight districts, only three out-of-school girls were registered. However, under the same 49 Aanganwadi centres, the WCD department listed 63,748 girls and claimed to have helped over 29,000 of them during 201821.
The report also pointed towards a scam worth crores of rupees where Take Home Ration was shown to have been delivered on the basis of fake 'chalans'.
