Representative Image.
Credit: Special Arrangement.
For eight months now, rents for Anganwadi buildings have been put on hold due to budget constraints. With owners threatening to lock up the centres, Anganwadi workers across the state are paying 3-4 times their salaries as rent by availing loans or mortgaging their jewellery. There are about 6,255 centres that function out of rented buildings.
An Anganwadi in Ballari taluk, for instance, was on the verge of being shut. “The first two months I paid out of my pocket but the owner grew impatient. I had some jewellery that I put up for mortgage to keep the centre running,” says Amala (name changed), an Anganwadi worker.
In Tumakuru, the situation escalated to the extent that several centres were closed down. “Since December, money has not been released. Owners got impatient and closed down the centres,” explains Fathima (name changed). Several centres in Tumakuru’s PH Colony, for instance, have closed down for the moment.
Disbursal of funds has been inconsistent under various headers. Funds allocated for workers to buy vegetables, for instance, are withheld, sometimes for 3-4 months.
Since January, payments for gas cylinders to cook meals for children and pregnant mothers, have not come through. “With our own meagre salaries, how should we manage these additional expenses, especially when vegetable prices are so high?” asks Fathima.
The breakdown of a consistent pipeline of funds has hit the Integrated Child Development Scheme, says S Varalakshmi, president of the Karnataka Anganwadi Workers’ Association. The number of beneficiaries is down to 48 lakh from 50 lakh last year. “This is because, besides financial problems, Anganwadi workers are being burdened with countless tasks,” she explains.
The drop in number of beneficiaries can also be explained by tedious record-keeping tasks. “We are struggling with phones to update POSHAN details on the app,” explains Amala.
Since the start of the year, there have been complaints of network issues, and faulty phones hampering record-keeping work after several processes were digitised. “A lot of time and effort is also being lost in non-departmental work like conducting surveys and election-related duties,” she says.
Lakshmi Hebbalkar, Minister of Women and Child Development, Karnataka says, “Rs 20 crore has been released last week. Deputy commissioners have already received it.”