The State government has prepared a plan to provide milk and eggs to children in all 65,000 anganwadi centres in the State.
Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who holds the Finance portfolio, is expected to clear the proposal soon, Minister for Women and Child Development Kalakappa G. Bandi told presspersons here on Monday. Currently, the department is providing six lakh malnourished children with milk and eggs.
The Minister said the department’s proposal was to supply milk (700 ml) to all 37 lakh children (3 to 6 years) in the anganwadi centres. While milk would be supplied daily, the proposal on providing eggs and the number of days on which it would be provided had not been finalised, he said.
If the proposal was implemented, it would cost the State exchequer Rs 230 crore annually. The government would buy milk powder from Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) and convert into milk, he said.
Mr. Bandi said Deputy Commissioners had been given powers to decide the menu in each district to ensure supply of region-specific food to children.
Buildings
The department had increased the expenditure incurred on constructing an anganwadi building from Rs. 4.19 lakh to Rs. 10.80 lakh. Of the 65,000 anganwadi centres, only 27,000 have their own buildings.
To construct good buildings and provide clean surroundings, the construction cost of the centres had been increased. Beside buildings, funds would be spent on construction of toilets and compounds and providing electricity connections, he said.
A sum of Rs 30 crore would be spent to construct buildings in the current financial year.
Replying to a query on issue of Bhagyalakshmi bonds in the name of children born in below poverty line families, he said Life Insurance Corporation bonds were given to all applications received till December 2010. Funds had been sanctioned to issue bonds for applications received in 2011 and 2012.
Under the scheme, the parents have to submit the applications to authorities concerned in districts within a year of the child’s birth.
