Subject: fyi– may be some ngo/donor may be able to help
Every year, the state supplies blankets to those below the poverty line but
it’s insufficient.
Ranchi: An icy winter has claimed seven lives in Jharkhand – a state where
over 100 people freeze to death every year – with the poor still waiting for
state-sponsored blankets to ward off the chill. Every year, the state
supplies blankets to those living below the poverty line (BPL), but the
distribution act is riddled with delays. This year, too, the government has
invited interested parties – via newspaper tenders – to sell their blankets.
Nine firms participated in the bidding, which opened on Monday. Five bids
were rejected and four selected. The selected parties’ blanket samples have
been sent to laboratories for tests of woollen content. The parties will be
given orders only after the test reports are out. “By the time we receive
the blankets, it is already January and the winter is on its way out. The
blankets hardly reach the needy on time and this causes deaths of hundreds
of people during winter,” said a government official.
As per the government plan, 1,000 blankets are handed to the state’s 212
blocks where 52 percent of the population is BPL.
“Last year I received a blanket on Jan 9 when then chief minister Arjun
Munda had distributed blankets. By then the winter had started receding,”
Gunjan Baitha, a rickshaw puller, said.
Sometimes the government goes in for a second tender if the quality or price
of the blankets is not along the prescribed level. Then the blankets reach
their target users only in February – when the winter is truly over.
Ketan Tanna
Special Correspondent,
The Times Of India,
Mumbai.
Phone: 22735240