In the wake of the death of 19 children due to malnourishment in Jajpur district’s Nagada village, the State Government on Wednesday decided to set up two mini Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) in the village.
The decision was taken at a review meeting held under chairmanship of Woman and Child Development Minister Usha Devi at the State Secretariat here.
The Minister said initiatives would be taken to bring the villagers from the hilltop to the foothill to resettle them there so that it would be easier for the district administration to provide them all basic requirements.
“It all depends on the villagers. If they are not willing to come down the hill, we will make alternative arrangements for them,” the Minister said.
The Minister said her department had made provision to provide take-home ration cards and chhatua to each family of the village through Anganwadi workers.
Talking about the malnourishment of the children, she said there was no family planning in the village. Some couples have 8-9 children.
“As per the survey conducted by my department, Nagada’s 24 families have 122 children. We will take necessary steps in this regard to bring these tribals to the mainstream of the society,” she said.
Meanwhile, Revenue Divisional Commissioner (Central Division), AB Ota held a review meeting on the situation in Nagada village in Cuttack on the day.
“The administration had identified 18 malnourished children in the village of which special care had been taken in respect of 14 children and their mothers at a temporary camp set up in the village,” Ota told reporters.
Jajpur Collector Satya Kumar Mallick, who was present at the meeting, told reporters the district administration had provided food to 43 families on Tuesday while another 43 families were provided food on Wednesday.