No hot cooked meals have been dispensed in 65,911 anganwadis in the state since April 2020, said a government official, revealing the impact of the pandemic on pregnant, lactating mothers and children.
As an alternative, take-home rations were given even though anganwadis "emphasise" providing hot meals.
The norm before the pandemic was to serve a hot-cooked meal to children aged three years to six years and to pregnant and lactating women. Children aged six months to three years were always given a take-home ration.
The news comes amid the state government's decision to start serving mid-day meals in schools as Covid-19 is on the wane, prompting questions on why hot meals can't be provided to pregnant, lactating mothers and children as well.
According to data provided by Nischal B H, Deputy Director, Women and Child Development Department, Bangalore Urban district, Bengaluru (including BBMP) stands fifth in the state in doling out take-home ration despite having a large floating and migrant population.
In August, the Women and Child Development Department gave 2.41 lakh take-home rations in the city. But another official said there weren't enough anganwadis for a city like Bengaluru.
Manjunath J, Deputy Commissioner, Bangalore Urban district, said, "The ratio of number of anganwadis to the city's population is already skewed. There should be an anganwadi for every 1,000 people, which we don't have."
As of October 1, according to Nischal, there were 730 severely acute malnourished children and 4,127 moderately acute malnourished children in the state capital.
"We've given 2,41,551 take-home rations over 25 days in the month of August covering 95 per cent of our target beneficiaries. This includes pregnant and lactating mothers and kids aged six months to six years. There have been no hot cooked meals dispensed in 65,911 anganwadis across the state since April 2020," he said.
In August, 24,851 pregnant women, 19,408 lactating mothers, 53,113 kids (3 to 5-year-olds), and 11,559 kids (5 to 6-year-olds) among others were given take-home rations as opposed to hot-cooked meals in Bengaluru alone.
"Anganwadis always emphasise providing hot meals," said Nischal. "After the Mathru Poorna scheme was introduced, hot cooked meals were provided to pregnant and lactating women who were earlier given take-home ration. Now, we've gone back to giving take-home ration again."
He said that three anganwadi workers had died due to Covid-19.
There are 2,587 anganwadis in the city (including BBMP) for 2.48 lakh beneficiaries which include pregnant, lactating women, adolescent girls and children aged six months to six years, anganwadi workers and helpers.
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