Anganwadis grapple with poor amenities

Visakhapatnam: Three Anganwadi going children all below five years in Araku Agency belonging to one family drowned in a river and died. The mishap occurred due to lack of security and assistance. None took the blame. This incident was reported last year.

Cooking gas leaked in a kitchen at Anganwadi Centre in Paderu three months ago after rats damaged the pipe. The children were not aware of the leak and they were engaged in their play. Villagers, who got the smell, rushed to the centre and dragged the cylinder. Fire service personnel, police and revenue officials rushed to the spot.

Highlights:

• 30 pc of shelters might collapse any day
• 3 deaths registered in one year
• Gas leak incident reported in June
• 229 centres are running in temporary structures

According to official records, 61,803 children are attending Anganwadi Centres in Visakhapatnam district in urban, rural and agency mandals where there is no security and safety for the children. All of them are below six years. Of the 61,803 children, 30,702 are boys and 31,101 girls attending 4,952 centres.

Children only cry whenever a mishap takes place but they cannot express.In one of the close cases, when the Anganwadi worker took a child to toilet, gas started leaking after the stove blew out. A lactating woman, who came to collect her ration, smelled the leak and immediately stopped it.

These centres are small in size and filled with ration stock and materials apart from serving as a play school for children. One multipurpose hall serves as a classroom, kitchen, store room, dining hall and play area.Around 1.2 lakh parents are put on tenterhooks as their children’s security and wellbeing is put on a single woman and in one hall.

Parents often question the officials about security of their children at the Anganwadi Centres but they get no answers from the officials.These centres meant for providing basic health care, nutrition and pre -school education.

Children are suffering from various diseases due to lack of basic amenities like toilets and potable drinking water. They are being forced to adjust in the unhealthy environment though the centres are meant for providing healthcare.

Out of the 4,952 centres, 229 centres are running in temporary sheds and huts which might collapse during cyclones and natural calamities.

As per latest reports, 30 per cent of these shelters might collapse any day.Similarly, 1,245 centres running in their own buildings, 2,708 in rented houses. About 996 are housed in rent- free centres, sponsored or government buildings, and cyclone shelters.

Unfortunately, majority of the centres cannot protect the children from rain, heat during hot summer. No centre has fan. “Since there are no toilets, even we go out in the open. Parents will come to collect their children to take them to toilets,’’ said an Anganwadi Centre worker.

She said children often play close to the stove and gas cylinder risking their lives and when the worker is busy with other works, said another employ of the Anganwadi Centre. “I fear for my child’s safety but I have no money to send her to a private play school which charges hefty money,” said Srilakshmi, whose child attends Anganwadi Centre in the city.

Woman and Child Welfare project director G Chinmayidevi admitted that some centres are not running in good buildings and being managed in temporary structures.

“We are taking GVMC support for the good buildings and collecting funds from NGOs, corporate companies for new buildings and amenities. We have also asked panchayat raj engineers to identify the buildings which are in a dilapidated condition and also alerting the workers regularly for prevention of accidents and hygienic atmosphere,” Chinmayidevi said.

“The government has no concern for the health or safety of children. The government is in slumber and only wake up whenever an incident was reported, said a state leader of AIDWA K Ramani.

By Jatlee Dontala