BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government on Saturday announced an increase in the clothing allowance for anganwadi workers and helpers in the state from existing Rs 1,390 to Rs 1,500.
Announcing this, deputy chief minister Pravati Parida said the Centre will contribute Rs 600, while the state government will provide the remaining Rs 900 for the purpose.
“With a total budgetary provision of Rs 22.30 crore, approximately 1.48 lakh anganwadi workers and helpers across the state will benefit directly from the move,” Parida said.
On the occasion, the deputy CM also inaugurated the ‘Angan Ka Utsav’ campaign from the Women and Child Development department to strengthen nutrition, health awareness and early childhood development services for children, women and adolescent girls across the state.
Parida also launched DIPTI (Direct Invoice Payment & Tracking Interface), making the department of Women and Child Development the first department in the state to introduce such a digital initiative for streamlined electricity bill management at anganwadi centres (AWCs).
Developed jointly by the department of Women and Child Development and DISCOMs, the platform enables the digital and direct verification, payment and tracking of electricity bills.
The initiative will relieve anganwadi workers of the financial and administrative responsibility of paying electricity bills and help ensure uninterrupted power supply at AWCs, Parida said.
WCD officials said the Angan Ka Utsav campaign will be observed across all anganwadi centres in the state from September 27 (Sunday) to 29 as part of the ongoing Poshan Maah (September 9 to October 8) and Seva Sankalp Abhiyan (September 17 to October 17) this year.
The three-day campaign will be organised across all 74,224 AWCs in the state in which around 37,11,200 beneficiaries and anganwadi management committee (AMC) members, along with 13,03,415 children in the age group of 3-6 years will take part.
The first day will focus on nutrition and food competitions. The day will also feature ‘Poshan Pitha’ prepared by the children’s family members, besides cooking competitions with use of locally-available food ingredients for the fathers.
On the second day, child-centric recreational activities, games and storytelling sessions will be organised. Reading materials, including ‘Ama Kunipila’ and ‘Mo Bikash Patra’ will be showcased. Children will also be served lassi, locally available fruits and millet cookies.
The concluding day will feature discussions on key government initiatives and schemes including POSHAN, SUBHADRA, MAMATA, PM-AWAS and ADVIKA. A healthy ‘Tiranga Thali’ meal will also be arranged for anganwadi workers and ASHAs.