The government has authorised states and union territories to relocate anganwadi centres, keeping in view convenience of pregnant women and children, sources said.
The decision was taken to ensure to that there is improvedaccess of anganwadis centres to pregnant women and children, they said.
Under the Anganwadi Services Scheme, a total of 14 lakhanganwadi centres have been sanctioned, most of which have already beenallocated to the states and the union territories.
The Centre has asked states and union territories tore-assess their requirement of anganwadi centres and they have been authorisedto relocate them, keeping in view convenience of pregnant women and children,they said.
“The aspect of availability of adequate land, building,ease of access of pregnant women and children has to kept in mind whilerelocating the anganwadi centres,” they said.
The other factor that has to be kept in mind is ensuringthat the anganwadi centres should not be more than 5 km away in case of urbanareas and 3 km in rural areas and 1.5 km in tribal areas, the sources said.
Anganwadis, a type of rural child care centres, have beenset up by the government to combat under-nutrition and stunting among childrenbelow the age of six years.
There are around 10 crore beneficiaries across the countryand the beneficiaries include children under the age of six and pregnant womenand lactating mothers.
There are nearly 26 lakh people working in variousAnganwadis across the country.