MALKANGIRI: For over four years, the anganwadi centre at Luler village under Kartanpalli panchayat in Mathili block of Malkangiri district has lacked infrastructure for preschool education.
As a result, it operates from an unsafe kutcha rented house with inadequate lighting, forcing the staff to conduct classes under a tree.
Speaking to TNIE, a staffer, Nila Bhumia, said, “There is only one electric bulb in the rented house, which makes it very difficult for students to study, forcing us to teach them under a tree when there is no rain.”
In the Mathili block, 21 anganwadi centres lack their own buildings. Out of the 1,324 anganwadi centres in the district, 165 operate from unsafe rented houses in the absence of designated buildings. Around 91 centres sanctioned in 2024-25 remain incomplete.
Mathili BDO Pramod Kumar Behera said the incomplete centres will be completed soon and handed over to the Integrated Child Development Scheme. Junior engineers and assistant engineers have been instructed to expedite the construction work, he added.