Bhubaneswar: Data provided by the state government in the Assembly, Saturday, hinted at paucity of infrastructure when it comes to Anganwadi centres (AWCs) in the state.
In a written reply to the House, Women and Child Development Minister Tukuni Sahu, the state has a total of 72,587 AWCs. Out of these, buildings have been completed for 44,671 such centres. However, construction of buildings for 10,445 centres is still in progress. On the other hand, the government has not completed the work for 24 per cent (17,471) of AWCs which do not have buildings of their own. Hence, an aggregate of 38 per cent of AWCs are functioning without own buildings.
The data reveals that the districts which are reeling under shortage of such structures include Bolangir 1,954 AWCs, Ganjam 1,808, Cuttack 1,688, Khurda 1,283 and Puri 1,257.
The Anganwadi centres run under the Union government’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme, which was launched in 1975 with the objective to improve the nutritional standard of children in the age group of 0-6 years. This also aimed at laying the foundation for proper psychological, physical and social development of the child and to reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropouts.
It has also been envisioned to achieve effective co-ordination of policy and implementation amongst the various departments to promote child development and enhance the capability of the mother to look after the normal health and nutritional needs of the child through proper nutrition and health education.