Taint service: Centre blacklists three NGOs for misuse of grants

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha,D Napolean,the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment,has stated that Ayush Foundation,which has its offices in Ellisbridge area of Ahmedabad,had been blacklisted along with three other NGOs in other states.

P K Taneja,the state Principal Secretary,Social Justice and Development Department,said he could not comment because the Centre is yet to inform them of the matter.

Little is known about these three NGOs among voluntary organization groups. Sanjay Dave,the coordinator of Charkha,an umbrella group of 500 NGOs across Gujarat,does not acknowledge the existence of the three NGOs.

However,according to central government reports and statistics,two of the three blacklisted NGOs have received considerable amounts of grants in the past and one — SBMMS — even at the beginning of this year.

Ayush Foundation received the grant of Rs 8.32 lakh between 2002 and 2005 from the Women and Child Development Ministry,the Government of India,to rehabilitate street children under a scheme called “An Integrated Programme for Street Children.”

According to the reports of the state Industries Commission,Ayush Foundation also signed a Memorandum of Understanding worth Rs 17 crore with the Gujarat Government during the 2005 Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit to set-up an ayurvedic centre and resort in Ahmedabad. The project never materialized.

More recently,on March 17 this year,Ayush Foundation had launched an awareness drive for female sex workers to use condoms. The program was organised in association with the District Aids Precaution Control Unit (DAPCU),a sub-division of the Gujarat State Aids Control Society,at the Lion’s Karnavati Shantaben Vaishnubhai Patel Eye Hospital at Ognaj in Ahmedabad.

Another of the blacklisted NGOs,Shri Bhavani Mahila Sewa Sangh,received Rs 4,46,650 on February 5 this year from the Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology,an autonomous nodal body under the Ministry of Rural Development,the Government of India.

The SBMMS runs a multi-purpose women welfare centre in Ahmedabad,while Bhagini Niketan runs a multi-purpose women’s welfare centre at Virpur in Kheda district.