In a sharp attack on the previous government, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said before 2017, even the supply of supplementary nutrition material for children in the state was influenced by liquor mafia and that most of the anganwadi centres in the state were dilapidated at the time.
“Rations did not reach anganwadi centres for three months at a stretch and children used to come to the centres carrying their own mats. Linking the concept of an ideal system of governance with Ram Rajya, the chief minister referred to the lines of Goswami Tulsidas, “Nahin daridra kou dukhi na deena. Nahin kou abudh na lachhan heena.
Adityanath said his government improved the condition of anganwadi centres, developing them into ‘model’ centres for the first time with an investment of ₹ 30 lakh each. Over the past nine-and-a-half years, more than 70,000 centres have been revamped, he said. “Before 2017, anganwadi centres were in a dilapidated state, lacking facilities like drinking water, and toilets. “When we took office in 2017, we asked why the centres were neglected? After 2017, the government changed the supplementary nutrition distribution system and ensured transparency and accountability,” he said. “Before 2017, anganwadi workers staged protests over honorarium and facilities. At that time, they received an honorarium of only ₹ 3,000, which the present government has increased to ₹ 12,000, four times the earlier amount. The honorarium of helpers has also been increased to ₹ 6,000. Along with this, a health insurance cover of ₹ 5 lakh has also been provided to anganwadi workers, helpers and their families. Smartphones have already been provided to around 1.56 lakh anganwadi workers and arrangements are being made to provide them to the remaining workers as well,” he said.
Most anganwadi centres were filthy,” he said. Then I discovered that a liquor mafia figure in Uttar Pradesh was supplying the nutrition material,” he said.
