Bhubaneswar: Stepping up its shutdown measures to contain the spread of the Coronavirus, Odisha government has ordered for a complete lockdown in the State. As a precautionary measure, the State government has also extended the closure of Anganwadi centres till April 30.
Earlier the government had closed the centres till March 31. In a letter to all district Collectors, Director of Integrated Child Development Services and Social Welfare (ICDS and SW), Aravind Agarwal has directed the senior administrative officials to ensure delivery of take home ration (THR) and ration for hot cooked meal (HCM) as per entitlement at the doorsteps of the beneficiaries covered under the Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP).
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For children (6 months to 3 years), pregnant women and nursing women, entitlements in the form of chhatua, dry ration, ladoos/ chikkis will be provided at one go by April 1. The system of mothers/ pregnant women coming to anganwadi centres to collect take home ration has been discontinued. The ration will be distributed by workers right at the doorsteps of the beneficiaries across the State.
Special instructions have also been issued for Anganwadi workers to maintain the existing norms for hygiene, use of masks, gloves, sanitisers besides regular hand washing.
The Anganwadi workers are also advised to maintain 1-meter distancing norm with their co-workers and beneficiaries. Adequate number of hygiene kits, containing hand wash, sanitisers, gloves and masks will be provided to those who are distributing ration under the flex-pool.
In his letter to the district Collectors, Agarwal has directed to create adequate awareness among the self help groups (SHGs) engaged in producing take home ration (THR) regarding the standards of hygiene, use of sanitisers, proper washing of hands and the protocols of maintaining one meter distance among co-workers.
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Agarwal has also asked the Collectors to make sure that eggs are to be distributed at household levels at a weekly basis. In case of unavailability of eggs, substitutes like soya noodles will be provided without compromising with the nutrition norms.
The entire distribution of take home ration (THR) and ration for hot cooked meal (HCM) will be monitored by the members of Mother’s Committees and Jaanch Committees. The concerned supervisors/ CDPOs will be responsible for the smooth conduct of the task.