MADIKERI: Anaganwadis across the Kodagu district have been devoid of egg supply for over three months now. The department claims of an alleged technical problem while the concerned authorities have assured to resolve the issue in two days.
Anaganwadis in rural areas play a crucial role in extending nutritional food and good health to the kids in these areas. However, technical issues have come in the way of the nutritional food supply in Kodagu.
As shared by several Anganwadi workers across the five taluks of the district, rotten eggs were being distributed often to the Anganwadis from the concerned contractor during the July-August months.
Following several complaints, the Zilla Panchayat CEO and Women & Child Welfare department officials held a meeting and cancelled the tender of the faulty contractor. Nevertheless, the rotten eggs were never replaced by fresh eggs and the Anganwadis have been devoid of egg supply since then.
As shared by an Anganwadi worker (who requested anonymity) in Madikeri, the Anganwadi she is working in has not received a supply of eggs since March this year.
“The department said that the amount to purchase the eggs would be credited to the Anganwadi account. However, this too has not taken place as the concerned officers shared that there is not enough budget,” she explained.
Anganwadi workers across Somwarpet and Ponnampet taluks too shared that the institutions have not been supplied with eggs for several months.
“We have also not received our salaries for three months,” they lamented.
When questioned, Basavaraj AM, the DD of the Women and Child Welfare department said, “There have been a few technical issues. The tender of the previous contractor who supplied eggs has been cancelled. We will shortly transfer the amount to purchase eggs to the concerned Balika Samriddhi accounts.”
He explained that the taluks other than Madikeri did not have a Child Development Project Officer for drawing and disposing of funds.
“We have now appointed an in-charge officer and he is yet to receive the digital key to transfer funds – both for egg purchase and salaries. Once this digital key is availed, the funds will be transferred immediately,” he added.