Campbell Bay, 15 Feb 2021
Anganwadi Workers throughout Andaman and Nicobar Islands participated in a peaceful protest at their respective headquarters under the banner of Anganwadi Karamchari Sangh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands which is an association of Anganwadi Workers affiliated with Bharat Mazdoor Sangh.
The protest was organized because of the delayed payment of Honorarium to Anganwadi Workers throughout the Islands. It has been reported that most of the workers in the Islands have not received full honorariums from July 2020.
Several demands were put forward by the Anganwadi Karamchari Sangh before the administration. Some of the main demands of the Anganwadi Workers were providing them the status of Govt. Servant; Increase in their honorarium; providing status of Primary Schools to Anganwadis under the National Education Policy 2020 and Anganwadi workers to be treated as Primary School Teachers and Anganwadi Helpers as Assistant Primary School Teachers; Extending facility of leave such as EL and CL to Anganwadi workers at par with Govt. Servants etc.
Along with the Anganwadi Workers in other parts of the Islands the Anganwadi Workers of Great Nicobar also participated in the protest. In Great Nicobar the protest was organized opposite the Assistant Commissioners Office.
The Anganwadi Workers of Great Nicobar during interaction with Nicobar Times informed us about several serious local issues regarding Anganwadis. One serious complaint raised uniformly by almost all Anganwadi workers were about the sub-standard quality of the ration items supplied to them by the Self Help Groups, who have been designated as the suppliers by the Social Welfare Department.
The Anganwadi workers also informed Nicobar Times that the suppliers of ration items do not provide them with exact quantity of ration as meant to be supplied. They added that the shortfall in ration items is not a onetime affair but it is repeated every month.
The Anganwadi Workers together echoed the same feelings about the self help groups which supply them with ration.
It is important to note that the Anganwadis are responsible for implementing the Poshan Abhiyan, Flagship Programme of Govt. of India to ensure malnutrition free India by 2022. Under Poshan Abhiyan the Anganwadi provides nutritious food to the children, pregnant and lactating women. Due to COVID-19 cooked food is not provided by the Anganwadis to children these days and rather dry ration is distributed door to door to the homes of the children.
Because of sub-standard quality of ration being supplied, the Anganwadi Workers are hesitant to supply the same to children, pregnant and lactating women. Further the suppliers curtail the supply of the ration every month because of which the Anganwadi Workers and helpers are not able to provide adequate quantity of ration to the beneficiaries.
This is a serious issue highlighted by the Anganwadi workers and according to them they have also complained regarding these issues to the local Administration , but no action was taken.
The Anganwadi Workers further allege that when they raise their voice against the wrongdoings of the suppliers they are threatened with memos and are also mentally assaulted.
Further several Anganwadi Workers have also complained about putting pressure on them for signing bills in advance without supply of all the items mentioned in the bill. The Anganwadi workers also allege that the senior staff of the Social Welfare Department stationed at Campbell Bay is also involved with the suppliers in putting pressure on them to sign bills in advance.
The allegations leveled by the Anganwadi Workers are serious and needs serious action by the authorities. Nicobar Times urges the local administration to take note of the above allegation and to investigate and fix the faults in the system of supply of rations to the Anganwadis.
(Download the Nicobar Times News App: downloadapp.nicobartimes.com, Follow our Facebook Page: facebook.com/nicobartimes Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/nicobartimes, Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/nicobartimes, To receive News Updates on Whatsapp Ping us on: https://wa.me/917063998178)