BHOPAL: At the first meeting of the task force, specially set up by the Madhya Pradesh Government to implement the ambitious Bal Gopal Yojana which has been launched to ensure better health care, nutritional protection and education for children, it was announced that the State would soon have 10, 000 new Anganwadi centres.

Chief Minister Babulal Gaur, who chaired the task force meeting here on Monday, emphasised the need for regular inspection and monitoring of the centres. The Madhya Pradesh Government recently set up the high-level task force as the State had high rates of infant and maternal mortalities and over 50 per cent children were said to be malnourished. The mandate of the task force is to strengthen the delivery mechanism when it comes to the implementation of various schemes at the ground level. The idea behind the setting up of the task force was to bring all existing women and child development- related schemes of the State Government under one programme--the `Bal Gopal Yojana'.

The foundation for this scheme was laid when the State Representative of UNICEF, Tapas Datta, had proposed the setting up of the task force during a recent meeting with the Chief Minister. At the proposal stage, there was emphasis at the official level that there should be an interdepartmental task force involving the political leadership, heads of various departments as well as various agencies like UNICEF, WFP and non-governmental organisations working in the area. It was decided at the task force meeting that 10,000 new Anganwadis would be set up in the State and 8, 500 buildings would be constructed for this purpose with support from the Government of India. A working group would also be formed to support and help the task force achieve its objectives. It has also been decided to launch a new scheme for healthcare of adolescent girls with the support of the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) and also set up Women and Child Development offices and Bal Bhawans at the divisional level. Besides, a decision has also been taken to cover 14, 000 Shishu Shiksha Kendras under the nutritional service of the Anganwadi kendras.

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