Ranchi, May 21: Attendance at 6,000 anganwadis across three districts has shot up manifold since the first week of May with the introduction of eggs in food distributed among children between 3 and 6 years.

Under the project, launched by the state woman and child development department in Ranchi, Dumka and East Singhbhum districts on a pilot basis in the beginning of this month, the rural centres are providing eggs thrice a week to ensure proper nutrition for underprivileged children.

"After the introduction of eggs, anganwadis are registering 100 per cent attendance now," Ranjana Mishra, East Singhbhum district social welfare officer, told The Telegraph over phone earlier this week.

Sangeeta Toppo, a sevika at Sahutola anganwadi at Boreya panchayat in Kanke block of Ranchi district, said the eggs had been a big draw. "We are distribution eggs for only three weeks now and already the number of enrolled kids has gone up. Earlier, some 15 children used to visit our centre, now the number has increased to two dozen."

Sources said that all government schools were currently closed for summer vacation, depriving children - many of them falling in the age group of 3-6 years - of midday meal. Therefore, the summer holiday has also contributed to the overwhelming response to the anda abhiyan, they added.

In East Singhbhum, a total of 48,087 children are getting eggs on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at as many as 1,722 anganwadis. Similarly, in Dumka, 2,060 anganwadis are distributing eggs thrice a week among 62,355 beneficiaries while 2,827 such grassroots centres are fulfilling the nutrition needs of 75,394 kids in Ranchi.

"An egg is almost a full meal for a young child. Except Vitamin C, it has all the essential nutrients. Poor children, who hardly get an egg at home, rush to anganwadis for eggs," said a senior health official associated with the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS).

A Tamil Nadu headquartered firm, Kisan Poultry, has been roped in for supplying eggs in the three districts at a rate of Rs 4.48 per piece, which includes all charges of packaging, taxes, transportation etc. The firm needs to supply the eggs directly to anganwadis located in remote areas.

Social welfare department secretary Vinay Kumar Choubey said that the project would be rolled out in other parts of the state also to provide much-required nutritional supplement to growing children. "We had expected a good response. The scheme may be launched across the state in near future if we are satisfied with the preliminary run in the three districts," he said.