Would you send your kids to this school?

Children aged between one and six have no access to a school in Dolara village which is located 130 kms away from Mumbai in the Mokhada taluka of Thane rural district The sole anganwadi for the kids is in a dilapidated condition with no doors toilets or windows Repeated appeals to the authorities to save the situation and repair the structure have fallen on deaf ears Locals face a similar situation in most villages in Thanersquos rural areas which encompasses 924 gram panchayats 1270 villagespadas and 4860 anganwadis Of these 600 anganwadis require either major or minor repairs to avert untoward incidents this monsoon Some of them need to be rebuilt completely However the irony is that the state government has never made any budgetary provisions to repair the anganwadis a shocking revelation that Sunday MiDDAY learnt after speaking to officials from Women and Child Development office in Thane The anganwadi built in 1992 has been lying in a decrepit state since two years Locals allege that their repeated complaints to authorities have fallen on deaf ears Pics Shadab Khanu00a0 When this reporter visited Dolara village to verify the facts he was directed to an anganwadi mdash a completely dilapidated structure with broken brick walls missing doors windows roofs and flooring Kalu Ugade a local villager whose house is next to the structure said ldquoThis is the only anganwadi for children of our village but since the past two years the building is in bad shape Our numerous complaints to Zilla Parishad officials have gone unheeded The kids now go to anganwadi teacher Shakuntala Jadhavrsquos house to studyrdquo Jadhav explained that she decided to take this step after she realised that it was risky to teach the children in the crumbling structure ldquoSince the past two years I have made a makeshift anganwadi in my house I studied only till class five and couldnrsquot continue my education But I want these kids to learn thatrsquos the only way our village can progressrdquo Children study at the home of their teacher Shakuntala Jadhav Eager to give them an education Jadhav takes classes at home since the anganwadi is too unsafe Pics Shadab Khan The anganwadi was started in 1992 under the governmentrun Integrated Child Development Services ICDS programme Jadhav explained that approximately 130 children from Dolara 1 and Dolara 2 villages avail the anganwadi facility As per the government scheme they were also given free meals But the problem arose two years ago when the structure started falling apart lsquoNo fund for major repairsrsquo When contacted Dr Sucharita Thorat ICDS officer and deputy chief executive officer Women and Child Development Zilla Parishad Thane confirmed to SMD that no special budgetary provisions are made for repairs of anganwadis and funds werenrsquot available since two years But she added that for the first time the state governmentrsquos tribal welfare department has sanctioned a fund of Rs 250 crore to repair the anganwadis This fund was originally given for construction of additional anganwadis in Thane district ldquoAs per our records out of 4860 anganwadis in Thane around 600 require repairs And as per government norms we can only conduct repairs that cost anything between Rs 1000 upto Rs 150000 In case the structure is dilapidated we have to seek special permission from the government to demolish the existing structure and construct a new anganwadi for which the provision is Rs 450 lakhsrdquo she said She further added that she had received 59 complaints from the Mokhada taluka and had already sanctioned the repair works a week ago ldquoThe zilla parishad deputy engineer will carry out the workrdquo Minister speak When contacted Varsha Gaikwad minister for women and child development said ldquoI will look into this issue and try to resolve it as soon as possible We usually get funds from various state government departments to meet the expenses Even the public can come forward and donate generously for these anganwadis They can directly approach the Zilla Parishad officerdquo lsquoLoan to repay loan interestrsquo Vasai MLA and chief of Shramajivi Sanghatana Vivek Pandit said that the dismal state of the anganwadis was a classic example of poor financial management in the state ldquoWe have budgetary provisions for planned and unplanned expenses Construction of anganwadis falls under the planned budget fiveyear programme plan while its maintenance falls under the unplanned expenditure The same is applicable for not only anganwadis but all government institutions across the state where provisions are made for construction but there is no provision to maintaining the structuresrdquo u00a0