Children's, destitutes' homes to be sanctioned to DK district

Minister for Women and Child Welfare Umashree said the Department of Women and Child Welfare will sanction a children’s home for girls in Dakshina Kannada district which was a long-pending demand.

She was speaking to mediapersons after holding a review of the progress in the Department of Women and Child Welfare here on Saturday.

The minister said the department will also sanction a destitute home for mentally-challenged destitute children and a senior citizens’ day care centre to Dakshina Kannada district.

Stating that the anganwadi centres will be made child-friendly under the Balasnehi Kendras scheme, she said the walls of 10,000 anganwadi centres in the state will be painted by artists from the Lalithakala Academy and each anganwadi will be granted Rs 10,000 for the purpose. The paintings aim at inspiring children towards education. The children in the anganwadis will be supplied milk with cream from this year, while so far, the children have been given skimmed milk.

Taking note of the number of malnourished children in the district, Umashree said that she has directed the zilla panchayat CEO to instruct Asha and anganwadi workers to monitor anaemic pregnant women and supply them with nutritious food.

This will help in checking malnourishment in children to some extent, she said. The Asha and anganwadi workers should ensure that pregnant women also consume the medicines prescribed by the doctors.

The minister said that she has also directed the CEO to start two more Mahila Supplementary Production and Training Centres (MSPTC) in the district to supply nutritious food to the anganwadi centres as the MSPTCs in Sullia and Puttur taluks have to cover a large area. It is left to the zilla panchayat CEO to decide on the place for setting up the MSPTC depending on the need, she said.

The MSPTCs functioning in the district have fetched profits. The Puttur MSPTC has fetched a profit of Rs 77,000 per month while the one at Moodushedde has fetched a profit of Rs 1.50 lakh per month, she added.

Umashree said the government will shortly implement Samriddhi Scheme for street vendors. A financial assistance of Rs 10,000 will be given to the street vendors to continue their business.

The budget has earmarked Rs 10 crore for the purpose, said the minister.