The Meghalaya government has decided to reconstruct 273 Anganwadi Centres as well as upgrade 2290 centres all over the state.
Principal Secretary Community and Rural Development (C&RD), Sampath Kumar said the decision was taken after joint inspection of all anganwadi centres was conducted by the Social Welfare and the C&RD departments.
“We are going to use funds from the MGNREGA and some additional funds from the new Early Childhood Development (ECD) mission which is in the final stage of loan signing with Asian Development Bank (ADB),” Kumar told reporters at the end of the two day review meeting of the Social Welfare department.
He also informed that the need on how the department can strengthen the human resources was also discussed at the review meet.
The Principal Secretary also said that with the formation of new C&RD blocks in the state there is a need to set up more ICDS centres. According to him, the number of blocks in the state has increased to 55 from 41 and therefore there is a need to extend the entire project to all the new blocks by providing dedicated human resources like appointment of CDPOs.
He also said that the Social Welfare department has urged all the districts, especially the deputy commissioners, to come up with the proposals to set up the new anganwadi centers in about 1500 uncovered villages.
Kumar also informed that there was a review on the Integrated Child Protection Services (ICPS) wherein a decision was taken to identify lands to construct standard homes for such children.
He also said that there was also a discussion about the Drug Reduction Elimination & Action Mission (DREAM), which is essentially how the government can make Meghalaya drug free or how to reduce the substance use.
Meanwhile, Social Welfare Minister Paul Lyngdoh informed that at the meeting there was a review of the implementation of schemes, which come under the Ministry of Women and Child Development, like, POSHAN, Anganwadi and schemes like National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR), Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana (AVYAY), Transgender rehabilitation, service and schemes for SC and ST under the Ministry of Minorities.
“We reviewed the Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Yojna and also under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, we reviewed the implementation of funding under Article 275 and also grant-in aid to voluntary organisations working for the welfare of Scheduled Tribes,” Lyngdoh said.
During the review meeting, the Social Welfare Minister also informed that there was also the felt need to engage professionals who can liaise with the ministries in Delhi to facilitate early and prompt clearance of various schemes which get caught up due to inability to meet the timelines required.
“We realised that one of the major weaknesses that we have in the department is the lack of professional hands like preparing Detailed Project Reports and also to prepare utilisation certificates on time. That being the case we thought we could use the services of professionals,” the Social Welfare Minister said.
He informed that in fact where ECD Mission is concerned already one such group is on the job.
According to Kumar, the Social Welfare department reports to five ministries in the centre – Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Social Justice, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Minority Affair and in some cases Ministry of DoNER.
He said that the directorate in the state will be given professional support so that they can liaise properly with the different ministries so that the state does not lose out on the resources it can access from the government of India.
