balurghat: State Women and Child Development and Social Welfare minister Dr Shashi Panja on Monday afternoon inaugurated nine new ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) centres for South Dinajpur.
Dr Panja took part in a programme organised by the district administration at Baluchhaya auditorium here. Through this programme, Dr Panja declared the nine new ICDS centres for this district.
According to her, of them, seven new ICDS centres belong to Balurghat block while the other two for Kushmandi block.
"All the ICDS centres across the state are functioning now. Cooked food is being served to the children belonging to the age group of six months to six years," the minister said after inauguration.
"We were serving free ration when the ICDS centres were closed due to COVID-19 pandemic as per instruction of the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Food is being served to pregnant women and the new mothers as well," she said.
She said various social welfare schemes that were already undertaken by the state government have been running successfully throughout the entire district.