The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : ICDS centres will become self-reliant, says Minister

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Thursday, May 03, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

ICDS centres will become self-reliant, says Minister

Staff Reporter

ICDS centre at Selaiyur renovated

INTERACTING WITH KIDS: Social Welfare Minister Poongothai at the renovated Integrated Child Development Services Scheme Centre at Bharathi Nagar Park in Tambaram on Wednesday. — Photo: A. Muralitharan

TAMBARAM : All centres functioning under the Integrated Child Development Services Scheme in Tamil Nadu will be made self-sufficient soon, Social Welfare Minister Poongothai said on Wednesday.

The Minister was speaking at a function held to mark the dedication of a renovated ICDS centre at Bharathi Nagar Park in Selaiyur in Tambaram Municipality.

Ms. Poongothai said ICDS centres looked after the nutritional requirements of children, particularly those belonging to the economically weaker sections, apart from preparing them for elementary schooling.

``I am a doctor and a mother and I know the importance of the first five years of a child's life,'' Ms. Poongothai said. Further, these centres also provided supplementary food to pregnant women and mothers of young children, she remarked..

Based on guidelines and Supreme Court directions, Tamil Nadu required about 50,000 centres and at present, there were more than 46,000, the Minister said.

The remaining centres would soon be set up in the State, the Minister said.

If there was a demand from any section of peple for construction of an ICDS Centre, the Government would construct it in three months, she added.

The Government would also take up maintenance and renovation works in those centres that required immediate attention.

``Starting from here (Tambaram), we will carry out a `step-by-step' programme of making all ICDS centres in Tamil Nadu self-sufficient and self-reliant,'' Ms. Poongothai said.

The Bharathi Nagar centre was renovated at a cost of Rs. 60,000.

A sum of Rs. 9.6 lakhs was allotted by Tambaram Municipality to carry out renovation and repair works in all its 18 ICDS centres, officials said.

N. S. Palaniappan, Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Tambaram MLA S. R. Raja, Grace Annabai, Social Welfare Officer and Project Officer (incharge) of ICDS, Kancheepuram district, were among others present.

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