Thaddesa Mithram

Anganwadi Building at Kanavila
Kanjiramkulam Grama Panchayat
Thiruvananthapuram District

In a mid night in March 2014, people in Kanavila wake up by hearing an exploding noise.  They scared and ran out of their houses. They found that the compound wall of a house near the Anganwadi collapsed and trees fell down. They couldn't understand what was happening there. The people are scared and apprehend that the collapse could be a danger signal. The incident had created a fear psychosis in the people. So they wake till morning.

The morning picture was really shocking. The 10-metre-deep well in the Kanavila Anganwadi was imploded. What remained in its place was a huge ugly scar of a metre-deep pit that contains the debris of the compound wall, retaining wall of canal and trees. It caused minor damages to the Anganwadi building. 

Kanavila is populated with 69 SC families. They are the beneficiaries of the Anganwadi. The Anganwadi building was constructed in 2001 in 5 cents of land owned by Panchayat. The 20-year-old well adjacent to the building was constructed in a traditional way and had no concrete well-rings inside it. Canal from the Irrigation Department was also constructed beside the building.

"On the day of this incident, there was a heavy flow of water through the canal and this breached the canal walls," says Mr.Shibu, the ward member.

After the collapse, the officials from Panchayat, Social Justice Department and Irrigation Department visited the site.

The Executive Engineer and the Assistant Engineer of the Panchayat examined the site and reported that the heavy flow of water in the canal weakened the soil, which led to the well-collapse.

After the incident, the Anganwadi was shifted to a rented building with the support of local people. The Anganwadi was functioned there for more 2 years with a rent of Rs.1000. The 75 percent of the rent they met from the grant provided by the Social Justice Department and 25 percent from their own.

Then the Panchayat approached the Irrigation Department for the construction of the canal and related works. As a result, in 2015-2016, they constructed the retaining wall and renovated the canal.

After that in 2016-17, Panchayat formulated a project for the renovation of Kanavila Anganwadi using the Performance Grant of Rs. 3 lakhs, Maintenance fund of Rs.40,000 and Rs. 60,000 from Social Justice Department. These funds were utilised for the renovation of the inner and outer spaces of the Anganwadi. They filled the collapsed well with earth and converted this space as a play area for the kids. It was done under the close supervision of the Executive Engineer and the Assistant Engineer of the Panchayat.

In 2017, the renovation works of the Anganwadi building and its surrounding area was completed and it was opened to the public. 

Now the Anganwadi is functioning in this new building with 12 kids from this area. Mothers' meetings and Adolescent meetings are also conducting there.

“We are very much thankful to Mr.Shibu, our ward member, who played a major role in the re-birth of our Anganwadi," says Mrs.Shantha, one of the residents of Kanavila.