Cuttack, Sept. 19: The central government has told Orissa High Court that though the state government was given Rs 100 crore to construct anganwadi centres in the last fiscal, seven children were killed when a wall collapsed at one of these facilities.

On July 9, seven children were killed at Nelia Upper Primary School at Suansia Sahi in Nayagarh and on September 4 the high court directed the assistant solicitor general to file a clarification related to funds provided by the central government to construct anganwadi centres in Odisha.

The court had issued the direction on a petition seeking a probe by an independent investigating agency into work undertaken by the government for construction and repair of anganwadi centres.

Advocate Dillip Kumar Mohapatra, who had in February 2011, filed a PIL on anganwadi centres in the state, moved a fresh petition after the Nayagarh wall collapse.

In an affidavit, the central government yesterday said Odisha government made a proposal before the 13th Finance Commission for state-specific grants to construct anganwadi centres.

“Accordingly, the 13th Finance Commission has awarded Rs 400 crore as state-specific grants to the Odisha government to construct anganwadi centres during the award period of 2011-13 to 2014-15. The ministry of finance has already released Rs 100 crore to the Odisha government for 2012-13 to construct anganwadi centres under the 13th Finance Commission Grant,” the affidavit stated.

However, the central government corroborated the claim made by Odisha government that Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) at present does not provide for construction of anganwadi centres except in north-eastern states. “Accordingly, the ministry of women and child development did not release any money from 2000 to 2012 to the Odisha government to construct anganwadi centres,” the affidavit filed by Suresh Chandra Sundara representing the assistant solicitor general of India stated.

Earlier, the Odisha women and child development department commissioner-cum-secretary Arti Ahuja had stated in an affidavit that “the Central government does not provide funds for the construction of anganwadi centres under the Integrated Child Development Scheme throughout the country except north-eastern states”.

“Rather, the ICDS service which has been designed as a community-based outreach programme, has been left to the respective state government and Union territories for themselves to arrange for AWC buildings either through community support or hiring suitable buildings on a meagre rent of Rs 750 for urban areas and Rs 200 for rural areas or by tapping funds from schemes to the extent possible,” Ahuja had clarified.

Ahuja had responded in pursuance of a high court direction to file an affidavit on the “conditions of the buildings of the anganwadi centres throughout the state”.

There are 71,134 such centres in the state. She had stated in her affidavit that as per reports furnished by different districts, 5,255 anganwadi centres had been shifted to safer buildings.

But the 29-page affidavit has no information on the buildings/ houses of anganwadi centres as to whether they are running in own, school, community or rented buildings. The number of such facilities that required renovation or were under repair was also missing in Ahuja’s response to the court.