THOOTHUKUDI: The iodine deficiency prevention committee has urged the district administration to rope in ASHA workers employed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to create awareness about the importance of iodised salt. The state government had earlier instructed village panchayats to pass resolutions during grama sabha meetings on August 15 for the compulsory use of iodised salt.
Ahead of the grama sabha meeting scheduled on Independence Day, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj director P Ponnaiah urged village panchayats to pass resolutions asking the public to compulsorily use iodised salt, whose deficiency may cause health complications.
The panchayat will also discuss about expenditure of general funds, audit report, clean drinking water, online lay out and building approvals, Anaithy Grama Anna Marumalarchi Thittam, Jal Jeevan Mission, MGNREGS, Clean India Mission and Prime Minister's Rural Housing scheme.
Thoothukudi district iodine deficiency prevention committee member and honorary secretary of Empower India, centre consumer & environment education, research and advocacy, A Sankar, said the public should be cautioned regarding the sale of non-iodised salt for human consumption. "It is being mislabelled as salt for preservative purposes. The leaders of village panchayats remain ill-informed about the value of iodine. The special grama sabha meetings would be an opportunity to restrict the production and distribution of non-iodised salt. ASHA workers can demonstrate how to identify iodine in salt," he added.