Odisha Govt To Extend Nutrition To Children Residing In Villages With No Anganwadi Centres

Bhubaneswar: Odisha government will soon roll out ‘Pada Pushti Karyakram’, a programme to extend supplementary nutrition to children in the age group of three to six years residing in villages that are hard-to-reach and have no Anganwadi centres in the area.

According to the government report, there are 2,543 hard-to-reach villages across the state.

Recently, the Women and Child Development department directed collectors of all districts to identify Pusti Sakhi, an SHG member who will run the programme in the identified village, and the children who would be covered under it.

In case there are no SHGs in the village, the mother of a child in the three to six years age group will be acknowledged as a resource person to run the programme.

The Pusti Sakhis will be responsible for bringing dry ration from the nearest Anganwadi centre on the first of every month, cooking and distributing the food among the children.

The children will be fed for six days a week for a minimum of 300 days a year.

While the hot cooked food will include rice, dal, vegetables, and ‘saag’, eggs, the morning snacks will have a ladoo made of either millet, besan, or wheat flour besides, ‘chuda’ and sprouted moong. While the children will be fed in groups at a common location in the village, the Pusti Sakhi may prepare the food at her house.

“This programme is temporary in nature till the children of the vulnerable age group are in the pada (village or hamlet). A register on the programme will be maintained by the Pusti Sakhis which will be collected by the Anganwadi worker of the nearest centre every month to be verified by the ICDS supervisor and CDPO,” TNIE reported the additional secretary of the department NC Jyoti Nayak as saying.

Meanwhile, the growth of the children in the hard-to-reach areas will be monitored every month at the nearest Anganwadi centre through the POSHAN tracker.

Besides, the ICDS supervisor will visit the village once every month to take measurements of all the children.

Notably, an Anganwadi centre can be opened in a village that has a minimum population of 150. However, villages with a population of less than 150 are tagged to the nearby Anganwadi centre.