VIJAYAWADA: Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu here on Thursday said that the government would soon start Nutrine Gardens in the villages to grow vegetables. These gardens will be under the local Anganawaid Centers from where the nutrient food is supplied to the children and pregnant women. The gardens will come up in the open spaces in every village, the chief minister said and expressed confidence that the food grown in the village would improve the health of the children and women. The chief minister wanted the industrialists and business houses to contribute for the supply of nutrient food for children and women at these Anganwadi centers.Speaking at a meeting of the Anganwadi workers, the chief minster wanted them to be agents of health care in the villages. He said that the government was providing master health check-up for women, baby care kits after delivery and sanitary napkins for 1.60 crore families in the State spending over Rs 120 crore. He said Andhra Pradesh is the only state in the country providing these services, despite being under financial deficit.The chief minister said he had increased the Anganwadi workers salaries from Rs 4200 per month to Rs 10,500 now. This had benefited one lakh Anganwadi teachers and workers in the state, he said and added that he would also give them android phones to digitalise their services, including monitoring the health of children and pregnant women.The chief minister wanted coordinated efforts of Asha workers self-help group women and Anganwadi teachers and workers to provide better health and infrastructure care in the villages. Stating that the government had constructed 8,318 own buildings for the Anganwadi Centers out of the 16,034 in the State, the chief minister promised to complete the balance buildings by March 2020.Minister Paritala Sunitha, Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, Prathipati Pulla Rao, Kollu Ravindra, MLCs T D Janardhan, A S Ramakrishna, women commission chairperson Nannapaneni Rajakumari and others were present.

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