As many as 27,916 Anganwadi Centres in the State do not have own buildings, informed Women and Child Development Minister Tukuni Sahu in the Assembly Saturday.
In reply to a query by Nabarangpur BJP MLA Nityananda Gonda, the Minister said 72,587 Anganwadi Centres are functioning in the State. Of them, 44,671 are operating from their own buildings.
She claimed that no Anganwadi Centre has dilapidated building and those which were damaged have been relocated to safer places earlier. At present, buildings of 10,445 centres are under construction.
Answering to a query by Opposition Chief Whip Mohan Majhi on malnutrition, the Minister said 21,901 severely underweight babies have been reported in the State till October 2019 whereas a total of 3,75,196 underweight babies were counted during the period.
In Keonjhar, the highest number of 1,732 babies was found to be ‘severely underweight’ and 37,269 babies were reported as ‘underweight’.
The Minister further said that in Kalahandi, 2,066 babies were severely underweight and 21,324 babies were reported as underweight.
Around 41% mothers in the State are suffering from malnutrition with a maximum of 45.9% malnourished cases reported from Malkangiri, said the Minister.
