Tamil Nadu to Convert 1,662 ICDS Centre Roofs to PUF Panels for Rs 66 Crore

Tamil Nadu Social Welfare Minister K. Jagadeeswari announced on Monday that 1,662 Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) centres across the state will have their asbestos roofs replaced with PUF panel roofs at a cost of Rs 66 crore.

Speaking in the Assembly during the discussion on the demand for grants for her ministry, the minister also stated that safety measures across ICDS centres would be upgraded at an estimated expenditure of Rs 12 crore.

According to the policy note tabled by the minister, all 54,481 ICDS centres in Tamil Nadu have been integrated with the POSHAN Tracker platform to strengthen service delivery and monitoring. The policy note also stated that ICDS staff are provided with a special time scale of pay aligned with the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission.

However, the policy note did not address ongoing administrative issues regarding the appointment of grade-II supervisors from the ranks of Anganwadi workers. Several supervisors have reportedly been working without salary for the past eight months due to procedural confusion originating during the previous DMK administration.

In Chennai's ICDS project 9, for instance, grade-II supervisor posts were officially unavailable, yet supervisors were inducted following administrative errors attributed to office assistants. A concerned office assistant from project 9 stated that the confusion was created by higher officials, who had not informed the minister about supervisors working without pay.