Action will be taken against corrupt officials, says Minister

Women and Child Development Minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar has warned officials that strict action will be taken against corruption in the appointment of anganwadi workers and assistants.

“Corruption in anganwadi appointments will not be tolerated. Anganwadi appointments should be made on the basis of merit. I will never interfere in this. Also, I will not buckle under pressure from anyone. And, I will not tolerate corruption at any level. If any violation is found, strict action will be taken against those involved. The whole appointment process should be completely transparent,” the Minister said.

She was speaking at her department’s divisional-level progress review meeting in Belagavi on Tuesday.

She said that there is no shortage of funds for paying rent for anganwadi buildings and buying eggs to be distributed to children. She asked officials to release these payments these without delay.

“Inspections should be carried out every month and action should be taken. The work of the department should run smoothly. Necessary improvements should be made. No negligence will be tolerated,” the Minister said.

“Due to our sustained efforts, we have got allocation under the Saksham scheme to run 17,500 anganwadis. These are more than the allocation for bigger States. The Central government is considering Karnataka’s Women and Child Development Department a model for other States,” she said.

“The Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) that introduced the anganwadi system will complete 50 years this year. In Karnataka and many other States, anganwadis have been in operation for 50 years. It is a historic achievement. We plan to celebrate the golden jubilee this year,” she said.

“Over 80% of our anganwadis are doing better than private nurseries. We are providing all facilities to children. We should feel happy about this. However, our officials should ensure that they continue to function properly. I appeal to officials to go to the people and spread awareness about anganwadis. We should start a campaign. We have to ensure that the number of children in anganwadis does not decrease. We need to convince more parents to send their children to anganwadis,” she said.

The Minister chaired the review meeting of the ICDS branch of the Belagavi division at the Suvarna Soudha.

She addressed officials from Belagavi, Uttara Kannada, Bagalkot, Vijayapura, Dharwad, Gadag and Haveri districts.

Principal Secretary of the department Shamla Iqbal, directors Mahesh Babu, M.R. Raghavendra, joint directors, district-level officials and others were present.