491 New Anganwadi Centres Inaugurated Across Odisha to Strengthen Grassroots Development

Bhubaneswar: Reiterating that Anganwadi Centres form the backbone of grassroots development, Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida on Tuesday said that strengthening their infrastructure is vital for sustainable rural development. She affirmed that the Government of Odisha is firmly committed to reinforcing village-level development by creating robust and well-equipped Anganwadi Centres.

The Deputy Chief Minister virtually inaugurated 491 newly constructed Anganwadi Centres across the State from the conference hall of the Department of Women and Child Development. The programme was also attended by Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water and Rural Development Minister Rabi Narayan Nayak.

Addressing the gathering, Parida said the State Government has placed special emphasis on empowering Anganwadi Centres by providing essential facilities such as sanitation, toilets, safe drinking water, electricity supply and nutrition gardens. She noted that these measures are aimed at improving maternal and child health, early childhood care and nutrition services at the village level.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister Rabi Narayan Nayak described Anganwadi Centres as an integral part of the vision of “Viksit Gaan, Viksit Odisha.” He underlined that women’s health, early childhood education and the overall development of children depend significantly on the quality of infrastructure available at Anganwadi Centres.

The programme was attended by Principal Secretary, Women and Child Development Department, Shubha Sharma; Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Department, Girish S. N.; Director, Women and Child Development, Monisha Banerjee; Director, Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Department, Siddharth Shankar Swain; along with other senior departmental officials. District Collectors, Additional District Magistrates, Chief Executive Officers, District Social Welfare Officers, Child Development Project Officers and Anganwadi Workers from all districts joined the programme virtually.

District-wise, the highest number of Anganwadi Centres were inaugurated in Ganjam district with 111 centres, followed by Balasore (63), Bargarh (36), Jagatsinghpur (34), Bhadrak (28), Cuttack (24), Puri (24), Khordha (23), Jajpur (20), Kendrapada (19), Koraput (18), Kandhamal (16), Nayagarh (14), Subarnapur (11), Gajapati (10), Sambalpur (9), Balangir (7), Angul (6), Keonjhar (5), Sundargarh (4), Nabarangpur (3), Nuapada (2), Dhenkanal (2), Malkangiri (1) and Rayagada (1).

According to the Department of Women and Child Development, a total of 1,404 Anganwadi Centres have been strengthened across the State in two phases so far. In the first phase, 913 Anganwadi Centres were inaugurated in September, while 491 Centres were inaugurated in the second phase on Tuesday, marking a major step towards improving early childhood care and nutrition infrastructure in Odisha.