Gujarat to get posh, new anganwadis while old ones remain in squalor

This apart, 8,000 new anganwadi centres will be built across the state, said the minister in her Assembly speech.

Pathetic state

There are 53,029 anganwadi centres functional in Gujarat. However, many of them have lacked basic amenities for many years and have been at the receiving end of government apathy.

According to a report tabled in the Lok Sabha in 2023 by the Women and Child Welfare Department, 1,564 anganwadi centres in Gujarat do not have toilet facilities while 2,296 lack safe drinking water supply. A total of 3,925 centres function from kutcha buildings, which usually are a makeshift shabby hut with either tin or asbestos roof.

Added to that, 9,866 centres do not have their own buildings; 6,923 operate from rented properties and 2,943 function from the premises of local civic bodies.

The less lucky ones

The highest number of centres without drinking water facility are in Panchmahal and Mahisagar districts. Here, 1,411 centres depend on water tankers, followed by 939 in Vadodara and Chhota Udepur (which is considered one unit despite being two districts) and 599 centres in Valsad.

In Dahod district, 808 anganwadi centres do not have toilet facilities. Similarly, 586 centres in Valsad and 562 in Panchmahal and Mahisagar lack toilets.

“One of our biggest problems is to operate from centres that do not have drinking water facility," said Rupaben, an anganwadi worker and president of the Gujarat Anganwadi Association of Ahmedabad district.

"At certain centers, the workers carry their own water but how do we provide children with water? The government water supply vehicle comes just once a day. The children get to drink water once a day when the tanker arrives, as we have no facility to store water. Some days, if we miss the tanker, there is no drinking water at the center,” she said.

“For instance, twin anganwadi centres that run from a rented property in one of the JnNURM housing projects at Wadi area in Vadodara have received their mandatory installation of RO water purifier, but no water connection. The children have no choice but to go without water for long hours until the workers fetch water by requesting neighbours. The kids also have to be taken to a toilet of a nearby house as none of the units have toilet facility. At many such centers, children are forced to urinate in the open due to lack of infrastructure and basic amenities,” Rupaben added.

Mobile centres

In several disticts, there are mobile anganwadi centres that operate from old and discarded buses of the Gujarat State Roads Transport Corporation (GSRTC). The state government came up with the scheme in 2009, saying it was having a tough time housing thousands of anganwadi centres.

An anganwadi center in Shantinagar slum area in Vadodara had been running from an 80 sq ft makeshift room with a plastic sheet roof cut out of the verandah space at the home of Ratnaben Rajput, who is also the caretaker of the centre.

“In the absence of government land to construct a dedicated unit, the centre has operated from my home for the last 15 years. I have been receiving a monthly rent of Rs 750. There are about 25 children who attend this centre and my home is open to them till the functional hours,” says Ratnaben.

The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development had signed an MoU with Vedanta in 2015 for the modernisation of anganwadi centres across India. But none of the Gujarat’s existing anganwadi centres have been upgraded.

Limited makeover

However, in 2022, the Gujarat renovated two Anganwadi centres in Hansot taluka in Bharuch district in south Gujarat under a collaboration between the state government and the Indrashil Kaka-Ba and Kala Budh Public Charitable Trust, which is the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) arm of Cadilla Pharmaceuticals.

“The new facilities at these two Anganwadis are in stark contrast to their condition less than a year ago. Earlier, the walls were peeling off, we did not have water or toilet facilities. Now we even have a television. The condition of this centre is very different from other centres in neighboring talukas,” said Hansalben, who works at one these centres.

Reportedly, the Hansot model will be replicated in all the centres under the Anganwadi 2.0 scheme.