Bhadrak: Despite the repeated plea of the villagers for an Anganwadi building at Balichaturi village in Sayan panchayat under Tihidi block of Bhadrak, no action has been taken in this regard there has been no effort in direction by the district administration.
Upset and aggrieved over the administrative indifference, the villagers have now decided not to wait for the authorities for help. They have made up their mind to build their own Anganwadi centre.
The villagers collected funds and contributed labour and built a house for their kids – what they call it their Anganwadi centre.
According to reports, the village has been sanctioned a mini Aganwadi centre, but no building was constructed. As a result, children are made to sit on the verandah of a villager’s house where they are not sheltered from summer heat or rains during the monsoon.
Villagers alleged that when it rains, their kids get drenched. In that event, the Anganwadi worker has no option but to suspend the classes. This is a routine affair during the monsoon. Fed up with the miseries, the mothers of the children got together one day and resolved to build their own Anganwadi centre.
The villagers said that the administration had made an estimate for construction of a mini Aganwadi centre in the village in 2018. Thereafter, locals pleaded with the BDO and the tehsildar to identify a place for the building of the proposed Anganwadi centre. However, nothing worked out as the administration failed to earmark a place. With no place to sit, children continued to suffer, while their mothers were worried every time it rained.
Anganwadi worker Simalata Mallick recounted her difficulties in tending children in the verandah where managing things on a daily basis was almost an uphill task
“After three days of labour, the villagers managed to erect poles, walls and roof of the mini Aganwadi centre. Now, the children at least have a place to sit. However, even now every time it rains, children are sent home,” she lamented.
When contacted for his comments, Tihidi BDO Basant Kumar Sahani said that funds have been sanctioned for the mini Anganwadi building in the village, but a suitable site is yet to be identified.
The BDO was all praise for the villagers for their united efforts. He assured that the process to identity the land will be hastened.
PNN