JEYPORE: Anganwadi centres are facing debt crisis. The alleged faulty funding system of the Social Welfare Department has put them on a sticky wicket with Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) staff making purchases from grocery shops on credit. In the last two months alone, the debt has mounted to Rs 2 crore in Koraput district.The State Government began emergency feeding programme for the distressed in all anganwadi centres and sub-centres in the district, comprising 14 blocks and 2,200 villages since April. The centres reportedly serve food to around 5,000 distressed persons daily. As per the norms, the centres must be supplied food materials of about Rs 5.50 per person per day. Accordingly, the Social Welfare Department has to provide about Rs 5.12 for food material expenses besides rice to each centre through the joint account of village head and anganwadi workers.While the Social Welfare Department has been providing the quota of rice to these centres for the past four months, lack of funds has put them in debt trap. Official sources said that the centres met food expenses for April and May by diverting funds of children feeding programmes. The situation worsened in June when the centres were left with no funds. They approached their respective Child Development Project Officers (CDPOs) but they too expressed helplessness over the funding system. To keep the feeding programme going, the anganwadi centres started borrowing from grocery shops. The mounting debt has many grocery shops stop supplying goods on credit, said an anganwadi worker of Dasmantpur block. “Except for the quota of rice, we are yet to receive proper funds for the emergency feeding programme,” admitted a CDPO of Jeypore. District Social Welfare Officer of Koraput Basanti Hemram, who has been monitoring the emergency feeding programmes in the ICDS-run anganwadi centres, said only two months funding are yet to be cleared. “We have already cleared two months food contingencies to the centres and would provide funds for another two months in a couple of days,” she said. The DSWO blamed the block ICDS officials for not providing papers for approval of funds resulting in the delay. Meanwhile, village heads have demanded the district collector for a review of the funding system to ensure that the guidelines are properly implemented.
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