Supplier of “Zero Hunger” fined more than G. 400 million

MDS Photo

Asuncion, IP Agency.- The Ministry of Social Development (MDS) sanctioned the company Granos y Aceites Sociedad Anónima Comercial e Industrial Agropecuaria with a fine exceeding 400 million guaraníes, after detecting non-compliance with the provision of school meals within the framework of the “Zero Hunger” program.

The Minister of Social Development, Tadeo Rojas, explained that this amount is equivalent to 0.5% of the total value of the lot for each day of non-compliance in the school lunch service that was awarded in lot 6 within the framework of the national public tender for the Central, Presidente Hayes and Capital departments.

He also reported that several deficiencies detected by successive audits and on-site visits carried out by Rojas were considered, one of them at the Domingo Martínez de Irala Elementary School 4659 and the other at the Miguel A. Torales Elementary School, both institutions in the city of Ypané.

“In this case, the company that was sanctioned has been verified in its procedures and we have confirmed the non-compliance that occurred not only in the provision of food, which is why this fine was applied, but also deficiencies in the service. Notes were sent to request compliance with contracts, consequently these situations continued and last week it was proven that it has not provided school food as established in the contract and that forced us to make this decision,” he detailed this Thursday in an interview with 970 AM.

In this context, he said that controls will be permanent and that all those who commit any type of non-compliance will be sanctioned, “regardless of the company,” he stressed. The priority is to ensure that there is no shortage of food in schools, he said.

“The main reason for the sanction is that on August 5, school meals were not provided and on the 19th, a repeat offence was found due to the late arrival of supplies. This was the trigger for the application of this fine in accordance with existing regulations,” he said.

This is the first sanction applied within the framework of the Zero Hunger program, in line with the commitment made by the MDS and which is recalled by the minister in each visit to educational institutions: “school food must reach schools and colleges in a timely manner.”

“We warn all companies that they must be prepared for this type of situation because we will not tolerate it either and that is why we ask them to comply in a timely manner with the quality of service, since the amount that the State is going to invest is enormous, so there should be no excuses, compliance must be achieved,” he said.