Lakhisarai: Anganwadi centres in Maoist-hit villages will soon be developed on the pattern of play schools, mainly to give little space to the local kids, who otherwise don't have any opportunity to interact with the learning process in the early stage of their lives.

After the recent video-conferencing of Bihar development commissioner Sashi Shekhar Sharma with Lakhisarai district officials on August 21 on development programmes in Maoist-hit areas, the district administration selected 10 Anganwadi centres to implement a central development programme. The selected centres have their own buildings in Surajgarha and Channan blocks in the district.

According to Gajendra Kumar, the district programming officer, all 10 centres will be developed as play schools with gardens and will be equipped with toys and other playing equipment. the kids will be given tasty nutritious food. He said Rs 1 lakh will be spent to spruce up each centre.

During the 2018-19 financial year, Rs 34.19 crore was proposed to be spent for Lakhisarai district under the Maoist-hit Area Development Fund of which the Centre allotted Rs 33.33 crore.

District magistrate Sobhendra Kumar Choudhary said several public welfare-related works will be undertaken under this Centre-sponsored project.

"Developing the Anganwadi centres will be an innovate step for the welfare of the new generation, particularly to provide them a positive atmosphere. Children in the Maoist-hit Lakhisarai hinterland do not have proper opportunities to learn. It's even very hard for them to have proper food, mainly because of the sorry state of affairs of their parents in the rural parts," admitted a senior district official on condition of anonymity.

He recalled how the Maoists earlier used to lift small boys and girls from the villages for their camps. An intelligence source also revealed boys in the age group of 5 to 12 were appointed in their Bal Dasta. Maximum number of children in such camps were found from Lakhisarai, Jamui, Banka and Sheikhpura districts.

"The boys were appointed with the consent of their parents, who didn't have the capacity to feed their wards," said a senior officer.

However, district officials like DM Choudhary hoped that such innovative gesture will certainly give parents the opportunity of choosing teaching and good food for their wards at their doorstep.