Anganwadis flout rules, invite Collector’s ire

Gadwal: The surprise visit of District Collector Shashank to the Anganwadi centre in Irkached village of KT Doddi mandal in the district has exposed various irregularities in the functioning of the centre. Following which, the Collector had directed Srinivas, deputy Tahsildar of KT Doddi to conduct a detailed inquiry into the irregularities with the help of Child Development Project Officer (CDPO), and asked them to submit a detailed report to the government at the earliest. 

The collector who was on a visit to Irkached village to take stock of the preparedness by the officials concerned for the upcoming gram panchayat elections, after inspecting the village polling booth on Thursday, conducted a surprise inspection of the Anganwadi centre in the village. 

The Anganwadi teacher, Anjamma, who was in-charge of the centre, could not answer the Collector when asked about the number children present in the Anganwadi. On Thursday, there was not a single child present in the centre. When the Collector asked Anjamma to present the attendance register and the maintenance register relating to the Anganwadi, she failed to do so.

Though she tried to submit some old incomplete registers to the Collector, the collector was not convinced and immediately asked the officials to seize all the records of the Anganwadi centre and directed the deputy Tahasildar to conduct a detailed enquiry and submit a report on the performance of the Anganwadi at the earliest.

While speaking on the occasion, the Collector said, “The government is spending huge amount every year for providing nutritious food for both children below five years and pregnant women with an aim to beat the malnutrition and decrease maternal mortality rate in the State. However, it is disappointing to see that some of the Angawadi centres are running in a pathetic condition and not maintaining proper registers. This is a very serious issue and we will not spare anyone who deliberately derelicts their duties.” 

Later, the Collector interacted with the booth-level officials and sought information from them relating to the number applications that have come for new voter registrations. However, when the officials informed the Collector that they have instructed the voters to approach online centres for registrations, the Collector grew furious at the VRO and RI and directed the Revenue Development Officer (RDO) to immediately issue show cause notice against them for not taking the voter registrations seriously.

“We have been telling the officials through various awareness meetings and programmes. But still the village level officials are taking it lightly. When the VROs and RIs are supposed to take initiatives and take applications for the new registrations from the illiterate voters, they are trying to escape from their duties by not taking the applications of new voters. This is a very serious issue,” observed the Collector. 

Later, the Collector who visited another Anganwadi center in Kondapur village also found the same situation, where the Anganwadi teacher Timmalamma gave irresponsible reply to the Collector when asked about the registers relating to students and food. The Collector directed the concerned CDPO to suspend all those Anganwadi teachers and ayaas and submit a report on the status of Anagwadi functioning in the district.