Kejriwal, Sisodia claim irregularities in aanganwadis
THE GOVERNMENT HAS DEPUTED ABOUT 800 MEN TO INSPECT ALL AANGANWADIS IN DELHI
NEWDELHI: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and deputy CM Manish Sisodia conducted surprise inspections of aanganwadi centres on Saturday after reports of large-scale irregularities surfaced in the Capital.
Kejriwal visited School block no 86 and 87 in East Delhi’s Shakarpur after which he said the government found many aanganwadis existed only on paper.
“We found a lot of irregularities in aanganwadis after which it was decided that inspections would be carried out on a massive scale. Officers will visit each and every aanganwadi in the city,” Kejriwal said at the end of his visit. There are 10,000 aanganwadi centres in Delhi.
“Some centres are only on paper. Some are doing well, while some need improvement. When the report comes, we will know more,” he added.
To avoid cases where children have died due to contaminated food provided at such centres, Kejriwal inspected the kitchen and tasted the food.
“Children prefer dry food like biscuits and bananas. But the Supreme Court’s order also has to be followed. So, let’s see. We will improve the food for sure,” the CM said.
Examining the attendance registers, Sisodia instructed that the contact numbers of parents must be registered.
About the survey, the deputy CM said that the government has deputed 800 men for the task. “All seniors and junior government officials working under Indian Administration Services (IAS), Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Services (DANICS) and ad hoc Danics officials have been asked to monitor the working of aanganwadis,” Sisodia said.
The officials were asked to visit the families of the children and pregnant women of aanganwadis for verification.
A few days ago, Sisodia had scrutinized reports given by the officials working in Gandhinagar and Krishna Nagar aanganwadis and found loopholes.
He removed three workers and helpers working for the verification job in Gandhinagar and Krishna Nagar aanganwadis as it was found that they added fake names of children and pregnant women. They wrote with pencils which could be tampered. A few officials were removed as they used to come late.