Bhubaneswar, Sep 26 The Odisha government on Saturday announced an increase in the ‘clothing allowance’ for Anganwadi workers and helpers to Rs 1,500 per annum.
The move is likely to benefit 1.48 lakh people working at the grassroots. They earlier received Rs 1,390 per year under this head.
Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida made the announcement while virtually inaugurating the ‘Angan ka Utsav’ campaign, which aims to strengthen nutrition, health awareness and early childhood development services for children, women and adolescent girls.
Under the revised provision for ‘clothing allowance’, the central government will contribute Rs 600, while the state will provide Rs 900 for every worker.
The deputy chief minister also launched DIPTI (Direct Invoice Payment & Tracking Interface), making the Department of Women and Child Development the first department in Odisha to introduce such a digital initiative for streamlined electricity bill management at Anganwadi centres.
Developed jointly by the department and discoms, the platform enables the digital and direct verification, payment and tracking of electricity bills.
The initiative will relieve Anganwadi workers of the financial and administrative responsibility of paying electricity bills and help ensure uninterrupted power supply at Anganwadi centres.
“The initiative will reduce the administrative burden on Anganwadi workers and save their valuable time, enabling them to focus more effectively on providing nutrition, health and early childhood development services to children and mothers,” Parida said.
The ‘Angan ka Ustav’ campaign will be observed across all 74,224 Anganwadi centres in the state from September 27 to 29 as part of the ongoing ‘Poshan Maah’ (September 9 to October 8), and ‘Seva Sankalp Abhiyan’ (September 17 to October 17), an official said.
Around 37,11,200 beneficiaries and Anganwadi Management Committee (AMC) members, along with 13,03,415 children in the age group of 3-6 years, are expected to participate in the programme, he said.
The first day of ‘Angan ka Ustav’ campaign will focus on nutrition and food competitions, and cooking competitions for fathers using locally available food ingredients will be organised.
The second day, September 28, will feature child-centric recreational activities, games and storytelling sessions. On the concluding day, September 29, discussions on key government initiatives and schemes will be held, Parida added.
(PTI News)
