Hyderabad: Anganwadi workers 'superheroes in sarees'

Around 64,000-strong Anganwadi staff are braving risks of contracting virus to stop spread of corona to nook and corner of the State, ensuring every child and pregnant or lactating mother has access to nutritious food even during lockdown

Hyderabad: If anyone rendering selfless services after doctors, nurses, police personnel and sanitary staff, then it's thousands of Anganwadi teachers across the state. Around 64,000 of them are ensuring every child and pregnant or lactating mother has access to nutritious food even during lockdown.

Some of the brave hearts among these Anganwadi teachers are also resorting to pushing carts, pedal cycling or riding two-wheelers as means of transport for essential commodities to be delivered at beneficiaries' doorsteps.

Their staunch commitment can be seen in some of them crisscrossing jungles and slippery streams in tribal areas with the sole motto that even the last mile is served with nutritious rations during the lockdown caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. "They are reaching out to 3,32,427 pregnant and lactating mothers , 4,61,800 children, besides around 8,446 undernourished, under the state's Arogya Lakshmi scheme. The first phase of disbursement of essential commodities had begun no sooner than the nation-wide lockdown on March 23. The second phase began on Monday. All this is happening under the watchful eyes and guidance of Secretary and Commissioner of Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW), Divya Natarajan," informed a WD&CW official.

Anganwadi workers' selfless services in the face of risks of catching the virus, Minister K T Ramarao was lavish in his praise for these bravehearts through a tweet, which has come as a huge morale booster. Each beneficiary of Arogya Lakshmi receives 150 grams of rice, 30 grams of dal, 200 ml milk, 16 grams oil and an egg. In one go, the department is ensuring they get 15-day quota. The workforce of the WD&CW department, some of them working from home due to the lockdown, are supporting in working out logistics – supply of essentials from depots to beneficiaries across the state – to ensure smooth execution at delivery level by the Anganwadi teachers. Describing them as 'Superheroes in Sarees', the Commissioner WCD, Divya Devarajan, praised that in spite of multiple duties, the 64,000-strong workforce is in 'mission mode' to ensure the well-being of every child and pregnant or lactating mother in the state.