BHUBANESWAR:Even as more than 50 per cent of 72,587 functional Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) are operating in temporary sheds, the State Government has set a target to construct buildings for 6,123 AWCs in convergence with Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) during 2018-19.
While construction cost of each AWC building is fixed at Rs 7 lakh, the State Government made a budgetary provision of Rs 122.46 crore (Rs 2 lakh for each building) for the proposed new structures.The new AWC buildings will be located on the premises of schools run under School and Mass Education Department and Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes Development Department in order to facilitate smooth transition from pre-school to school stage.
Out of Rs 7 lakh estimated for each building, Rs 5 lakh is met out of the MGNREGS fund while the balance Rs 2 lakh is shared by Centre and State in the ratio of 60:40. However, the Centre has revised its share from Rs 1.2 lakh for each AWC to Rs 1 lakh. This has put financial pressure on the State Government, said Minister for Women and Child Development Prafulla Samal.The State has 72,587 AWCs and mini AWCs operating in 338 ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme) projects. Out of these centres, 36,251 centres don’t have permanent buildings. Some centres are running in community building or in rented houses. Most of these centres have no toilet or drinking water facility.
“In order to expedite construction of AWC Buildings in rural areas, construction is taken up in convergence with MGNREGS,” the Minister said.The State Government had made a provision of Rs 70 crore in 2017-18 for construction of 3,500 AWCs in rural areas and Rs 58.5 crore for 835 buildings in urban areas.
The State, which topped the list in construction of rural housing and anganwadi centres in convergence with MGNREGS, has also decided to scale up utilisation of funds through convergence to build more permanent assets for sustainable development, he said.
Meanwhile, construction of 5420 anganwadi centres buildings has been completed through convergence. The Minister said toilet is available in 25,573 out of 36,251 AWCs functioning in own buildings while 33,807 centres have drinking water facility. Only 2349 centres have electricity connection.