Mumbai: Government signs MoUs with four NGOs to open several anganwadis across Maharashtra

Mumbai: The government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with four social organisations to adopt 424 anganwadis in Maharashtra, Minister for Women and Child Welfare Mangalprabhat Lodha said on Tuesday.

He said the state has decided to felicitate two women from each of 27,897 village panchayats on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Ahilyabai Holkar, the hereditary queen of the Maratha Empire, today.

Total no. of Anganwadis in Maharashtra

The state has 1,10,446 anganwadis. The government devised a policy last year under which corporates, non-governmental organisations, social organisations, trusts, corporate social responsibility institutions and individuals were allowed to adopt them. Under this policy, 156 social institutions have till now adopted 4,861 anganwadis.

On Tuesday the Vipla foundation adopted 368 anganwadis from Palghar, Thane and Raigad districts, the Gram Seva Pratishthan adopted 30 anganwadis from Thane and Raigad districts, Sparch Charitable Trust adopted 10 from Mumbai Suburban and Nashik district while the Corbet foundation adopted 16 from Sindhudurg and Pune districts.

The MoUs

The MoUs between the Women and Child Development Department and the social institutions were signed at the Sahyadri guest house. Principal Secretary of the department IA Kunden, Commissioner for Integrated Child Development Rubal Agrawal, Deputy Commissioner Vijay Kshirsagar and representatives from the institutions were present at the occasion.