Bolpur, June 3: At least eight Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) centres in Birbhum's Khoirasole, where a series of blasts blew up one such building yesterday, are lying unused and some of them have been turned into clubs by suspected Trinamul supporters.

The buildings, built at a cost of Rs 7 lakh each to replace old ones, have been lying unused for periods ranging between one and three years. The workers in charge of the centres said they had not received the order to relocate.

A wave of pre-dawn blasts yesterday razed to the ground an ICDS building in Noapara village to which the centre in-charge had refused to move in five months ago alleging that bombs were being stocked there.

ICDS centres, where children and pregnant and lactating mothers are given one meal a day and medicines and kids up to five years are imparted basic language skills, are requisitioned by the scheme authorities.

The Telegraph today visited four unused ICDS centres within 20km of Noapara.

At a centre in Parshundi village, the main door was open and six youths were sitting inside. Asked what they were doing, one of them said: "We had come for some work."

Asked how they entered, another said a villager had given them the key.

Inside, stainless steel plates and a cauldron lay on the floor. A carrom board was placed in one corner. Empty plastic packets were lying in another.

When this correspondent asked a group of villagers sitting on the veranda of a nearby house who had the keys to the centre, they did not reply. Asked again, one of them said: "Please wait, we will call our booth president."

They returned with a person who introduced himself as Dayamoy Das, the Trinamul booth president. "I keep the keys. They have been with me since the building was completed a year ago."

Once an ICDS centre is built, the contractor is supposed to hand over the keys to the local block development office. The keys are then given to the ICDS authorities. No employee in the block development and district ICDS offices could say where the keys to the four centres were.

The ICDS worker in charge of the old centre in Parshundi, Jyotsna Das, said she knew nothing about the new building except that it had been constructed. "No one has told me to relocate there," she said.

This correspondent found another yet-to-be-opened ICDS centre in Parshundi under lock and key. A local youth, Bablu Bauri, said: "The building was constructed a year ago. It has been locked since."

A centre in Sahapur village, 14km away, has been lying unused since its construction three years ago. The in-charge of the existing centre in the village, Lakshmi Pal, said: "We wanted to shift to the new centre as it is bigger but local leaders told us not to. They said children and young mothers would find it easier to come to the existing centre."

An official said there had been a delay in handing over some buildings to the ICDS authorities because of "paperwork" and late inspections and issuance of completion certificates and clearance of bills.

The ICDS project officer of Birbhum, Arindam Bhaduri, said: "We are preparing a list of unused ICDS buildings. We will take steps."

District CPM secretary Manasa Hansda alleged Trinamul had "taken over" unused ICDS centres. Birbhum Trinamul vice-president Malay Mukherjee denied the allegation.