With the rising market price of eggs, supply has been cut off to people who need them most — pregnant women, lactating mothers and children aged between three and six in several anganwadis in the State.
The supply of eggs to pregnant women and lactating mothers is part of the State’s ambitious Mathru Poorna programme, which was launched on October 2. The Department of Women and Child Development has also adopted the initiative under this programme as eggs are considered to be a source of protein with all essential amino acids.
K. Somashekar, president of the Karnataka Rajya Anganwadi Samyukta Naukarara Sangha, said the State government needs to ensure that workers are reimbursed the cost of eggs based on the market rates. “In many districts, anganwadi workers are being told that they will get only ₹5 as reimbursement and will have to bear the remaining cost from their pocket. As a result, workers in some places have switched to alternatives such as extra chikki,” he said.
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Earlier this month, an anganwadi centre in Vijayapura stopped serving eggs to pregnant women but not to children. “For children, we have to serve eggs twice a week so we are trying to manage. But serving eggs to pregnant women every day is difficult. We had no option but to stop it,” a worker said, adding that if there is no price relief, they would have to stop providing eggs to children as well in the coming week.
Some anganwadis, however, have decided to continue providing eggs for as long as they can. They are waiting for the department to address the issue.
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Karnataka Rajya Anganwadi Naukarara Sangha president S. Varalakshmi said members of the association have decided to continue giving eggs but are unsure if they will get reimbursement based on the market rates.
Uma Mahadevan, Principal Secretary to the Department of Women and Child Development, said the authorities were aware of the issue and would take action in the coming week.
Workers to protest
Thousands of anganwadi workers from across the State will stage a protest on November 30 over the lack of facilities for the implementation of the Mathru Poorna programme.
Ms.Varalakshmi said they were not against the programme, but there was a need to improve facilities to ensure its effective implementation. “Some of our demands include improving infrastructure in anganwadis and supplying basic implements such as utensils. Our other demand is to ensure that all children get eggs five days a week,” she said.