This anganwadi centre at Hari Colony was once a public toilet

Observations of a sample survey of 32 centres in the city.

Karnataka Bengaluru 03/08/2015 . Toilet converted into Anganvadi office in Bengaluru

Badly-maintained anganwadi centres are a dime a dozen right here in the State capital. But nothing will prepare you for the anganwadi at Hari Colony (near Banashankari bus stand).

This anganwadi was a public toilet not long ago and two Indian-style toilets – now crudely filled up with cement – are visible bang in the middle of this anganwadi. There is a plaque outside that proclaims the premises as a “public toilet” inaugurated in 2002.

This was among the shocking sites encountered by members of Samaja Parivarthana Janandolana, a city-based NGO, which carried out a sample survey of 32 anganwadis in the city for a reality check.

“This anganwadi is testimony to how little our governments care for the poor children. They have not even tried to bring down the old building and construct a new one,” said Y. Mariswamy, State organiser of Janandolana, who was part of the team that visited the anganwadi at Hari Colony.

Dilapidated buildings

While this was the most blatant case of callousness, what they encountered in the other centres was not particularly heartening.

The team found that only five of the anganwadis surveyed were completely safe and had adequate ventilation. As many as 20 required major repairs, lacked ventilation and were unsafe for children.

Lack of separate rooms for kitchen and storage was a common problem.

Only eight had fully functional toilets with water availability. The lack of cooking gas and electricity were a problem in many places.

Problems galore

While there were problems galore inside the buildings, the environment in which they were situated left much to be desired. The report by Janandolana notes that many anganwadis were “surrounded by garbage, hazardous material, such as glass, and animal faeces”. Some were next to public trash dumps. Compounds were a rarity in most places, said the report.

An important function of an anganwadi is providing nutritious food to children aged below six, but the team’s “shocking finding” was the condition of food served. “Food packets/grains beyond expiry period, unlabelled food and spoilt food were common,” notes the report.

The team also found high discrepancy between enrolment and attendance. While 1,002 girls and 929 boys were enrolled, only 396 girls and 355 were present in the anganwadis when the team visited.

“There were too few instances where anganwadis were in good condition. One such centre was at Chokkasandra near Jalahalli Cross in T. Dasarahalli,” said Mr. Mariswamy.