Ludhiana: Anganwadi workers push for digital aid
The workers have stopped registering the details of pregnant ladies that benefit from the supplementary nutrition programme in the application in protest for the last three months
Anganwadi workers led by Anganwadi Mulazim Union Punjab protested here on Wednesday demanding laptops and internet connections at Anganwadi centres to facilitate the tasks in the Poshan Tracker app.
The anganwadi workers, according to Subhash Rani, president of Anganwadi Mulazim Union Punjab, are supposed to enter all the details of food items dispensed at the centres in the app. But they don’t have the devices to use the application.
“We are asked to use our personal phones. Why should we use our personal phones,” she asked, pointing that the Union Government has been giving funds for providing the anganwadi workers with phones and other devices to facilitate the digitisation effort, since 2018 when the app was rolled out. “The funds are given every four years. As such we should have got at least two phones by now. But we haven’t received any here in Punjab. In other states, workers are given phones as per the scheme,” she claimed.
The workers have stopped registering the details of pregnant ladies that benefit from the supplementary nutrition programme in the application in protest for the last three months.
“We are threatened that we will be terminated from service if we don’t restart the registration work. But how can we do it if we don’t have the required devices. You can’t expect an army to fight without weapons,” she added.
The union submitted a memorandum to the district programme officer demanding laptops/tablets and internet connection at anganwadi centres for the purpose.
The union also said that the government should do away with the provision of OTP sent to beneficiaries as they were reluctant in sharing the same.
“When distributing the sanctioned food items, we are supposed to ask the beneficiary ladies for OTPs. These poor labour workers are scared of digital fraud and refuse to share OTPs, which makes it hard for us to complete the process. This must be done away with,” said the union leader.
DPO Anganwadi Gulbahar Singh Toor said that the department was in the process of procuring tablets and they would be provided to the workers in two to three months.
He also emphasised that the department provided data package worth ₹2000 per year to workers to use their personal smartphones to access the Poshan Tracker app.
