Anganwadi centres grapple with shortage of funds

Nikhila Pant Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 31

Anganwadi centres, reeling under confusion after the initiation of pre-primary classes in government elementary schools, are grappling with fund crunch.

The state government has not released funds for paying the rent of these centres for two years. The salaries of anganwadi workers and helpers have not been released for the past three months.

In the Bathinda block alone, there are a total of 172 anganwadi centres and of these, 118 centres are running from rented buildings.

Hargobind Kaur, state president of the All Indian Anganwadi Mulazim Union, said, “Of the total 172 centres in the Bathinda block, 54 centres are running from school buildings, dharamshalas or other buildings for which there is no need for paying the rent. For the remaining 118 centres, the state government has not released funds for the rent since December 2015.”

The anganwadi centres are to be given Rs 3,000 per month for paying the rent, but the amount is not being paid by the government. “Even before December 2015, the centres received only partial funds. Of the Rs 3,000, some centres used to get Rs 1,500 and some Rs 1,000,” added Hargobind.

For the past 26 months, around Rs 92 lakh as rent for the 118 anganwadi centres in the Bathinda block is to be released.

She said over the years, the situation had come to such a pass that the anganwadi workers and helpers had no option but to shell out money from their own pockets to pay off a part of the outstanding rent. “Even the philanthropists and NGOs are not very forthcoming in helping us out since we have been running out of funds for two years now,” she added.

One of the major demands being raised by the anganwadi workers and helpers is an increase in their salaries on the pattern of Delhi where the workers and helpers are getting Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000, respectively. However, they are yet to get salaries for the past three months.

Notably, in October 2017, the salaries of the workers and helpers for 10 months were released in one go. Since then, they have been waiting for their salaries.

“We are made to work at meager salaries and are not given salaries for several months. The centres are not getting funds for paying the rent and feed the children. The state government is doing all this to shut down the centres and pressurise us,” said the anganwadi workers, who have been sitting outside the office of Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal for the past three days.