NARAYANPET: At a time when the government and local authorities across the State are claiming that they are taking all necessary measures to ensure the smooth running of Anganwadis, the children and workers of various Anganwadi centres in Narayanpet district beg to differ. They are not even getting tur dal anymore.
According to sources, the supply of tur dal stopped around four months back and the children have not been getting the same since then.
Although the Anganwadi workers and management staff used to buy essential products by spending money from their pockets and then claim for reimbursement by submitting the bills to the authorities later, they stopped the practice due to nonpayment of dues.
As per rules, the children should be given 15 grams and the nursing mothers should be given 30 grams of dal each day. There are as many as 704 Anganwadi centres in the district with a strength of 57,221 children. It is learnt that the district administration requires 858kg of dal each day to cater to the needs of children alone and another 153kg of dal for the nursing mothers. However, they have not been getting any quantity of tur dal for past four months, as a result of which both the children and the nursing mothers hardly get any nutrition.
Commenting on the issue, Narayanpet Child Development Project Officer Jaya told Express that even though the officials had requested the contractors to supply the stocked dal, they were not ready to supply it, claiming that the price they get for tur dal is not remunerative. “However, we are taking all steps to resume the supply of tur dal to the Anganwadis in the district,” she said.