Stop plans to wind up or club Anganwadis: CITU

Patancheru: The Sangareddy district unit of CITU on Tuesday demanded that the State government refrain from either closing down or clubbing of Anganwadi centres.

District CITU leader B Nageswara Rao raised the demand while addressing a meeting of CITU activists at ICDS office here. He also served a notice of the general strike by workers on January 8. He alleged that the NDA government, after coming to power for the second term, was expediting anti-worker policies.

He said the government was resorting to higher cuts than earlier, because of which the Anganwadi wages and food bills remained pending for years. He said there was a proposal to effect cash transfer and distribution of food packets to the Anganwadi staff through post offices, and also to cut the ICDS budget.

The government, he alleged, was contemplating to wind up Anganwadi centres with a strength of 10 students and have only one such centre in a village. Rao claimed that already a survey on the proposed changes was going on.

He apprehended a threat of loss of jobs of Anganwadi staff. The CITU leader called upon the working class to make the January 8 strike successful by participating in large numbers. Several Anganwadi teachers attended the meeting.