Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Thursday said Assam had found 14 lakh fake names registered in its anganwadis, PTI reported. The minister was speaking at an orientation programme ahead of Poshan Abhiyan, a central government initiative that focuses on nutrition.

Gandhi said the Assam government had conducted a survey at anganwadis across the state and completed a physical verification of the number of children present at the facilities. The minister said the money that was being lost due to misuse of the welfare scheme could have been to help children who needed it.

She said the survey proved that there were many lapses in the food distribution system and directed all state governments to verify the number of children who “really need to be fed”. The minister also asked state governments to refrain from tasking Anganwadis with responsibilities of buying and distributing food.

The Centre’s Poshan Abhiyaan scheme aims to reduce the stunting of children in the age group of 0-6 years from 38.4% to 25% by 2022.