JEYPORE: Koraput MLA and District Planning Board president Raghuram Padal was taken by surprise when an anganwadi worker questioned the tall claims by the administration about their welfare at a function. The video of the incident was widely shared on social media, exposing administrative apathy towards anganwadi centres in the district.
This took place when Padal was at Boipariguda to distribute Covid kits to ASHA, anganwadi and health workers. Going up on the stage, anganwadi worker Swarnalata Panda of Kadamguda centre under Boipariguda ICDS project alleged that the government authorities seek their services in times of need to do all the ground work but later ignore their plight.
There are about 3,200 anganwadi centres operating under 15 ICDS projects in Koraput. As per norms, the district social welfare officer foots the monthly bills of cooked meals and supplementary nutrition programme.
Since the bills are not paid on time, the anganwadi workers manage the centres by borrowing from local sources. However, things have worsened in the last three months as payments were not made to most centres though the issue has been raised by the workers in different forums. “Let alone our monthly remunerations, we have not even received BSKY health cards,” said Panda on stage. The incident left the block officials red-faced.
Meanwhile, the district administration swung into action and started disbursement of payments to different ICDS projects after enquiry besides stating that the allegations made by Panda were baseless. DSWO BL Patra was unavailable for comment.