Tamil Nadu: Anganwadi children not given rotten eggs as claimed by BJP, says Minister
TIRUNELVELI: Refuting the allegation made by the BJP leaders that the Anganwadi children were served rotten or damaged eggs, Minister for Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Geetha Jeevan on Monday said the leaders filed the complaint based on a photo they took of the bad eggs that were separated from the good ones.
"The BJP leaders cannot understand that we are distributing good eggs to the children after rejecting the rotten ones. We've been using the method of separating damaged eggs and those that float in water since 1966. If they still conduct protests in this connection, let them do so," she said when the media persons asked about the ongoing controversy in which the supporters of the Minister and BJP leader Annamalai got into a clash and were booked by the Thoothukudi police.
Earlier, the Tirunelveli rural police detained some BJP functionaries to avoid any untoward incidents during the Minister's visit to Manur. Around 50 BJP cadres protested against the detention.
The Minister also said that the State government had diagnosed around 45,000 Anganwadi children with severe health problems, including holes in the heart and deafness.
"Even the parents failed to notice such problems in their children. We are going to give these children advanced treatment. Another nine lakh Anganwadi children are malnourished. We are working for the welfare of these children," she added. When asked about the delay in the distribution of financial aid to expectant mothers and health kits to new mothers, the Minister said that she would bring this issue to the officials of the health department.