Nearly a quarter of the anganwadis in the city function out of rented premises, while nearly half of them lack toilets. The issues of urban anganwadis were brought to the fore at a public consultation held here on Friday.
Kathyayini Chamaraj, executive trustee, CIVIC, which organised the meet, said there were nearly 10.5 lakh children below the age of six in the city, of which around 40 per cent relied on anganwadis. “Currently, the city has 2,137 anganwadis (in Bengaluru urban district) catering to 85,000 children only. This means, 3.5 lakh students are not covered under the anganwadi scheme,” she said.
However, even among the existing anganwadis, 489 function out of rental premises, while 963 do not have even a single toilet, she said.
Expressing grave concern over the statistics provided, Minister for Transport and district in-charge Ramalinga Reddy said the situation will be reviewed with officials from the Department of Woman and Child Development.
