Bhubaneswar, December 6: Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida on Saturday disclosed in the Odisha Assembly that proposals for upgradation of 12,140 Anganwadi centres (AWCs) to Saksham Anganwadis have been sent to the Central Government.

Parida, who holds the Women and Child Development portfolio, informed the House that a sum of Rs 84,000 is being provided to each Saksham Anganwadi for infrastructure development. Out of the Rs 84,000 grant, Rs 25,000 is meant for installation of LED TV, Rs 10,000 for reverse osmosis (RO) machines, Rs 10,000 for POSHAN Vatika and Rs 39,000 for other infrastructure related works.

Saksham anganwadis are established for improved nutrition delivery and for early childhood care and development under Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0.

The Deputy CM further told the House that Anganwadi centres are being monitored through ‘Anganwadi Welfare and Service Oversight Monitoring Everywhere’ (AWESOME) app. This digital tool has been designed to strengthen infrastructure monitoring and service delivery at anganwadi centres.

Out of the 74,224 Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) in the State, as many as 20,150 centres do not have their own buildings while 3,890 AWCs are operating from rented houses. This was disclosed by Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida in the State Assembly on Saturday.

Parida, who holds the Women and Child Development portfolio, informed the House that 3,890 centres are operating in rented house while 10,649 cenrtes are functioning in community centres and 4,574 centres in schools. Rs 6 crore has been sanctioned for construction of 50 new Anganwadi centres in urban areas.