A boy draws water from a tube well. Telegraph picture

Cuttack, May 4: Orissa High Court today expressed displeasure over the tardy progress in drilling of tube wells to ensure supply of drinking water to the anganwadi centres (AWCs).

The high court was hearing the PIL filed by advocate Dillip Kumar Mohapatra on implementation of the special nutrition programme (SNP) and the mid-day meal (MDM) scheme. Taking note of allegations that drinking water was not available in as many as 9,543 AWCs, the court had directed the rural development department to drill adequate number of tube wells on war footing and ensure supply of pure drinking water to these AWCs.

Earlier on April 19, the high court expressed dissatisfaction over the status report filed by the government and sought a detailed report by April 29. Commissioner-cum-secretary of the women and child welfare department Arati Ahuja had accordingly filed a report.

Petitioner counsel Narsingh Mishra pointed out that though the court order was to drill tube wells on a war footing, the report indicated that only 225 tube wells had been drilled within the last two months. “In fact, since March 8, 2011, not a single tube well had been added by the collectors in 18 districts,” he said.

Mishra further pointed out though the report claimed opening of joint accounts in the AWCs and formation of village monitoring committees to certify quantity and quality of the foodstuff under the all-feeding programmes, it was silent about their mode of functioning.

The two-judge bench of Chief Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice B.N. Mohapatra directed Arati to file a detailed report with proper information from the collectors of all the 30 districts by May 10.

The bench expected the report to show cause as to why the collectors had not complied with the court order.

According to the report, the districts, where no tube wells had been added in the last two months, included Angul, Balasore, Bhadrak, Boudh, Gajapati, Ganjam, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Keonjhar, Khurda, Koraput, Mayurbhanj, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Phulbani, Rayagada, Sambalpur and Sonepur.

The court further directed for details on the functioning of joint accounts in the AWCs and the village monitoring committees to ensure quality of foodstuff under the all-feeding programmes.

The status report had said: “Joint accounts have been opened in 62,347 AWCs and mini AWCs in 30 districts. Village monitoring committees known as Jaanch committees have been formed in 44,333 villages to certify the quantity and quality of foodstuff under all feeding programmes.”

“A total number of 8,050 AWCs functioning both in government and private accommodation in 26 districts do not have drinking water facility within a radius of 250 metres,” the report stated.