The Orissa Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has recently issued notice to the Women and Child Development Department (WCD) to submit its report on non-toilets Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) in the State within four weeks.
Acting on the complaint of rights activist Akhand of Bhubaneswar based Civil Society Forum on Human Rights (CSFHR), the OHRC asked the Principal Secretary of WCD Department to inquire the matter and submit reply within four weeks.
The rights activist in his petition informed to the OHRC that 53,228 Anganwadi centres out of a total of 71,302 in the State do not have toilets for the children. This, even as financial provisions have been made for the construction of toilets on 71,302 of the Anganwadi Centres under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme.
But the State has constructed toilets at only 18,074 AWCs. Of the 18,074 toilets, only 12,285 are functional and 3,097 toilets have water supply connections. As many as 5,789 centres have toilets but these are non functional. Of the 18,074 toilets constructed, only 359 toilets have a flush system, while 13,926 are pit type latrines and 760 have only urinals. Not all of these are functional, alleged Akhand.
These Anganwadi centres are being set up to provide supplementary nutrition, non formal pre-education, health, education, immunization, and health check-up and referral services. But above statistics shows that they lack facilities for basic sanitation, which is integral to healthcare.
Due to lack of toilets and sanitation, the children suffer much and even are exposed to risk of various diseases, alleged the petitioner.