A Poshan Rath was flagged off from the office premises of Deputy Commissioner on Sunday as part of the month-long Rashtriya Poshan Maah in eastern Assam’s Sivasagar.
The Poshan Rath was flagged off by Assam education minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya and Member of Parliament for Jorhat HPC Topon Kumar Gogoi.
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Attending a meeting held in this context at the Sukafa Conference Hall of the DC’s Office, the education minister lauded the efforts of the district administration put in organizing various activities like the Poshan Rath in the district.
“Children are the future of a nation and its our collective responsibility to ensure proper nutrition to the children to grow healthy and fit which is deemed essential for a country to progress in the real sense of the term,” the Minister stressed.
Instead of feeding the children costly medicines, vitamins and health supplements to ensure their growth, the Minister urged the public to opt for locally available fruits and home-made nourishing foods as they are equally nutritious, easily available and are cost effective.
Further, he called on parents and school authorities to create awareness among the adolescent girls about menstrual hygiene and importance of using sanitary napkins.
Highlighting the key schemes of the Central Government in the sectors of health, education, cleanliness etc, Jorhat MP Gogoi emphasized on the need of collaborative efforts of the concerned departments like Health, Education, Public Health Engineering, Social Welfare etc so that the public can derive maximum benefit out of them.
He called on all to work with firm determination and proper coordination to materialize the dreams and realize the visions of the Prime Minister for a fit, powerful and progressive India. He also lauded the efforts of the participants of the Poshan Rath and wished the venture a grand success.
During his welcome speech, the deputy commissioner Dr S Lakshmanan opined that dedicated efforts of all the participating departments and all out support from the public will play a vital role towards eradicating malnutrition and other related health hazards.
He called on the stakeholders and the general public to transform the Poshan Abhiyaan into a public movement with a view to make the country free from the clutches of malnutrition.
It may be noted that the rath which will travel all over the district till September 23 next has on display a large variety of locally available green, leafy and other vegetables.
The observation is under the Poshan Abhiyaan flagship programme, being implemented in the district simultaneously with the rest of the country.
The month is observed in a bid to create awareness about the various types of foods and vegetables and their nutritional value among the people.
The programme aims to address the issue of malnutrition and improve the nutritional status for children, adolescents, pregnant women and lactating mothers through a targeted approach and convergence of various nutrition related schemes under various line departments.
The meeting was also attended by district development commissioner Nawab Al Azhar Ali, chairperson of Sivasagar Municipal Board Mridusmita Sinha, assistant commissioner Manali Prasad Rajak, officers and staff of various government departments, Anganwadi workers and a host of prominent citizens.
