The High Court of Karnataka on Monday expressed shock on the status of infrastructure provided to anganwadis in the State after noticing that only 33,146 of the total 65, 911 anganwadis have electricity connection.
The court also noticed from details submitted by the State government that there were no toilets in 21,686 anganwadis and fans were provided only in 29,560 anganwadis across the State.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Suraj Govindaraj made the observation during the hearing of a PIL petition initiated in 2011 based on a letter by one B.L. Patil of Vimochana Sangha, a Belagavi-based NGO, about children suffering from malnutrition.
The Bench found that data of infrastructure in the report pointing out compliance of recommendations made by a committee, headed by then judge of the High Court N.K. Patil, which was set up in 2012 by the High Court to study the issue of malnutrition.
The Bench noted from the report that though the Justice Patil committee had recommended providing pure and warm drinking water facility in every anganwadi, the government simply said that water filters had been given without providing details like whether all anganwadis have filters and types of filters.
‘Submit programme’
Meanwhile, the Bench directed the government to submit a time-bound programme to ensure all anganwadis are provided with electricity connection, fans, and children-friendly toilets. The court recently reactivated the committee, now headed by A.N. Venugopala Gowda, a retired judge of the High Court, to look into issue of malnutrition, to oversee the process of process of identification, medical examination, and treatment of malnourished children, lactating mothers, and adolescent girls.
