Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Wednesday announced that the State Government would formulate a comprehensive State Nutrition Policy aimed at ensuring the availability of balanced and nutritious food for all vulnerable sections, including children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
Chairing a review meeting of the Department of Health Safety and Regulation, the Chief Minister said that the composite testing laboratory at Kandaghat would be upgraded with world-class, high-end technology to ensure accurate analysis and improved efficiency. He added that to ensure timely and quality testing of food items, regional laboratories would be set up in the first phase at Baddi, Mandi, Kangra and Shimla, followed by the establishment of similar facilities in all districts in the second phase.
The Chief Minister stated that nutritional surveillance across the state would be further strengthened. Food items would be tested regularly and their nutritional content would be scientifically profiled and mapped. He directed the department to conduct periodic testing of food supplied under the Public Distribution System (PDS), Anganwadi services and the Mid-Day Meal Scheme. To enhance outreach, mobile testing vans would be deployed for food testing, awareness generation, capacity building and training across the state.
Emphasizing efficiency and transparency, the Chief Minister instructed the department to fully digitize its functioning using modern information technology. A dedicated state portal would be developed for digital execution of all activities, including food sample collection and dissemination of test results. A State Nutrition Database would also be created to support data-driven decision-making.
Expressing concern over rising health issues due to nutritional deficiencies and pesticide residues in food, the Chief Minister said the government was taking the matter seriously and implementing effective measures. He highlighted that promotion of natural farming and incentivizing farmers under various schemes were key steps in addressing these challenges.
He further said that the state government was continuously strengthening the health sector by adopting world-class standards in medical education, establishing ICUs in every medical college and ensuring a global-standard doctor-patient ratio in hospitals.
Nurturing Creativity – Keekli Charitable Trust, Shimla
