Dark chapter: Neglected Ghantamorod anganwadi is nobody's child

MARGAO

Unlike many an angandwadi, this one room premises for the tiny tots has no chairs nor tables, but the ordeal for the children does not end there. Otherwise, consider this. The children are all accommodated on the floor amidst damp and moist conditions, with water seepage into the room from a leaking roof being literally the order of the day. That a jute sack is placed on the floor as a makeshift arrangement to soak the leaking rain water is a grim reminder that all is not well in this anganwadi, which has been craving for attention since the last two years.
A visit to the "changing room" meant for players brought to the fore pathetic conditions, with the environment not conducive at the anganwadi to house the children. The damaged entrance door and the broken window panel bears testimony to the absence of maintenance since it's construction in 2011.
Inquires further revealed that the anganwadi worker had knocked the doors of the village panchayat way back in December 2015, drawing attention to the ramshackled room. A glance at a letter made to the Aquem-Baixo Sarpanch dated December 18, 2015, by anganwadi worker Helena Costa had called for the replacement of the old water tank, besides repairs of the damaged front door, windows and the leaking roof. A year and half down the line, the ground reality remains unchanged.
Local resident and former sarpanch, Inacio Dias pointed out that the pathetic condition of the changing room turned anganwadi school does not augur well for the small children, while making a plea to the new panchayat body to find a solution to the problem.
When The Goan called up outgoing Aquem-Baixo sarpanch Sharon Quadros to shed light on the
condition of the Anganwadi since 2015, she attributed the situation to the delay by the Salcete BDO
office to take up the repair work. "After the panchayat body had received a letter from the anganwadi worker, the panchayat had adopted a resolution to take up the repair work. The resolution was forwarded to the BDO office for necessary action, but in vain," Sharon lamented.
Newly-elected Aquem-Baixo sarpanch Siddesh Bhagat, who assumed office a month ago, said the
Anganwadi is indeed craving for attention. "I am seized of the situation. The panchayat body will discuss at its ensuing meeting, the condition of all the Anganwadis in the village. Our children certainly deserved better amenities," he said, while saying that the time has come for the government to review the paltry rent paid for the Anganwadi premises in the state.