The Centre has asked the state governments to utilise the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (MGNREGA) funds for the construction of the Anganwadi centres in all the villages, which do not have pucca buildings to house them.
In a joint letter, the Secretaries of the Union Ministry of Rural Development and the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development said the Centre had given its nod for utilising the MGNREGA funds for the purpose.
Maintaining that the Centre had approved an outlay of `4.5 lakh for each Anganwadi centre, the officials underlined the need to undertake labour intensive construction of the centres to make the maximum use of the MNREGA.
They also asked the state Chief Secretaries (CS) to analyse the performance of the different panchayats under the MGNREGS and advise them on how best they can construct the Anganwadi centres by converging the two programmes.
Besides, the Centre requested the CS’ to review the implementation and direct the departments concerned to draw up the plan and commence the construction activities at the earliest.