Monday, 28 March 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
The president of Anganwadi Workers Association Rekha Negi has written to the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to allow the direct delivery of items like eggs and sanitary napkins, which are meant to be distributed among women and children under various programmes, to the doorstep of Anganwadi centres. She also asked the CM to consider several other grievances of Anganwadi workers across the state including the formation of a committee. She said that the workers have to travel several kilometres to get these items from the centres of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) assigned by the administration to provide these products, back to the Anganwadi centres which pose an inconvenience to many, especially to those living in remote and mountainous areas. “Anganwadi workers have to carry big boxes of items like sanitary napkins either on their heads or book an autorickshaw to take them to their centres. The workers get no remuneration for carrying such big boxes to the centres. Some have to walk kilometres to reach their centres which has been causing inconvenience to hundreds of Anganwadi workers every month,” said Negi. She said that the workers have not received rent for the Anganwadi centres by the department of Women Empowerment and Child Development (WECD) in many districts due to which, landlords have started asking them to vacate the place. Also, Anganwadi workers are yet to receive the allowance of their protest period in 2020 as promised by the government at that time, said Negi. She also appealed to the CM to make the promotion of the Anganwadi workers based on seniority rather than solely on educational qualifications. She said, “The government previously removed the age barrier as a qualification to be eligible for the post of supervisor but now the government has put graduation as compulsory education qualification. Due to this, many senior workers who have not gone to college will be deprived of the promotion. So I appealed to the CM to reconsider it too.” She also wrote to the CM about forming a committee where Anganwadi workers can directly present their issues without any protests or strikes. “I hope that the CM will look into our issues and will take action to resolve them,” added Negi.
