Andhra CM calls for strengthening anganwadis

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday directed the officials concerned to gather information from the village secretariats on the facilities available and those yet to be provided in the anganwadi centres.

During a review meeting on the Women and Child Welfare Department held at Tadepalli near here, he took stock of the progress of the ongoing development works taken up in the anganwadi centres as part of the Nadu-Nedu programme. The officials informed the Chief Minister that currently works are being expedited in over 10,000 anganwadis upgrading them to foundation schools in the State.

The Chief Minister asked the officials to expedite the works in the remaining 45,000 anganwadis on priority. Instructing the officials to prepare and submit a report regarding proposals on the works to be undertaken in each anganwadi centre, he asked the officials to gather the details of the facilities such as ceiling fans, lights, furniture and toilets.

Focus should also be laid by the officials on keeping devices for monitoring the growth of children in anganwadis, besides directing them to fill up the vacant anganwadi workers and anganwadi helper posts immediately. Reddy said that officials should regularly monitor the anganwadis and keep a vigil on their supervisors to improve the conditions there. While reviewing the progress of the Women and Child Welfare Department, he asked the officials to fill vacant posts in the department and formulate an effective Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) regarding the distribution process under Sampoorna Poshana on par with the distribution of pensions being carried out efficiently in the State.

Women and Child Welfare Minister K V Ushasri Charan, Principal Secretary (Women and Child Welfare) M Ravichandra, Finance Secretary KVV Satyanarayana, Schools Education Commissioner (Infrastructure) K Bhaskar, AP State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited VC and MD Veerapandian, AP Dairy Development Cooperative Federation MD Ahmed Babu, Women and Child Welfare Department Director M Vijaya Suneetha and other officials were present.