Friday, 20 OCTOBER 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Refuting the allegations that Angwanwadi workers do not get transportation expenses, the Women Empowerment and Child Development (WECD) department stated that workers get all required expenses. For the past few weeks, the president of the Anganwadi Workers Association Rekha Negi has been asserting that they have been persistently requesting transportation expenses from the WECD for several months now. She claumed that the department provides the ration without taking the responsibility for its transportation to the Anganwadi centres. To avoid incurring transportation costs, the Anganwadi workers are compelled to personally transport the 50-kilogramme packets over a distance of eight kilometres. Taking this into consideration, she appealed to the WECD to either provide the necessary transport expenses or guarantee that the ration packets are available at the Anganwadi centres, she added.
Director and additional secretary of WECD Prashant Arya told this correspondent, “It is important to note that the government of India covers all expenses for the Anganwadi workers, including transportation costs for items required at the centres. The department provides Rs eight for children and Rs 9.5 beneficiary rates for pregnant women to the Anganwadi workers on a daily basis. These beneficiary rates are applicable for all types of expenses.”
He further added that if the Anganwadi workers still find the transportation expenses to be excessive, they have the option to attach the bill and claim reimbursement from the department. He emphasised that it is logistically impossible for the department to personally locate the ration at the 22,000 Anganwadi centres across the State.
