Chhattisgarh anganwadis keep doors open; turnout yet to pick up

Leela Sahu, an aganwadi worker in one of the six anganwadi centres of Birkoni village in Mahsamund district of Chhattisgarh, reaches the centre at around 8.30 am and starts cleaning the premises with phenyl and sanitises the rooms. Waiting for children to come to the centre, she starts preparing food for them.

But the turnout is very low. Out of 63 kids enrolled at this centre, only six who are severely malnourished come and are served a hot meal. For the rest, the centre sends Take Home Ration (THR) every week.

While the Chhattisgarh government is the first state that decided to operate the anganwadi centres from September 7, which were shut mid-March due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “It is not like earlier days. Parents are living in fear. I go door-to-door, convincing them to send their kids to the anganwadi but most of them are reluctant,” said Sahu, who was busy in the kitchen of the two-room centre.

She said that Birkoni, with a population of around 5,000, has five aganwadi centres. Of them, three are closed because they fall in containment zones and local opposed their reopening.

“My anganwadi centre caters to 38 kids between six months and three years of age, 25 kids between three and six years of age, 12 pregnant women and 16 lactating women. Many of them are not coming but we are sending THR to them,” said Sahu.

“Apart from the six malnourished kids, four lactating women, who are anaemic, come to the centre. We are advising them to come here for better nutrition. The anganwadi centres were earlier opened from 9 am to 3 pm for physical and education activities of kids and now we only open for providing hot, cooked meal,” said Aprana Shrivastava , supervisor of women and child department for Birkoni village.

Mahasamund Project of Women and Child Development Jyoti Chatur says things are not easy. “During the lockdown, we were providing THR to kids and mothers but for better nutrition, we have to provide hot, cooked meal hence the government started operating the anganwadi. Some people are not willing to send their kids but our workers and employees are trying hard. Only some sarpanchs have cooperated with us thus far,” Chatur said, adding that all the guidelines for the opening of angwanwadi centres are duly followed.

In Chhattisgarh, there are 51,455 anganwadi centres and the National Health and Family Welfare Phase 4 survey put the malnutrition level in the state at 37%, said a senior government official.

“The anganwadis were closed since March 14 and workers had been delivering dry ration to beneficiaries’ homes. Even international agencies like WHO and UNICEF believe Covid-19 might result in rise in malnourishment and have suggested that effective steps be taken to check it. Keeping that in mind, we have opened the centres for a limited period every day to provide freshly-cooked food to children and pregnant women. Besides, immunisation of children and health check-up of pregnant women can also be done,” the official added.

However, the centres don’t still have thermal screening facility. “Thermal screening equipment has not been given to us till now . As far as personal hygiene and physical distancing is concerned, we are taking care and continuous monitoring is going on,” said Chatur.

Nandini Dhurv (24), a lactating women and resident of Birkoni village, believes that the opening of centre is helpful for people like her. “ I come here for hot, cooked food every day,” she said.