At a time when reconstruction works in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand is going at a snail's pace, a Bengaluru-based pharma company, Strides Acrolab, has completed the construction of four anganwadi centres in Uttarkashi district in six months.
The company through its foundation had evinced interest in the reconstruction of eight damaged anganwadi centres at Purola block in Uttarkashi. The company roped in Anil Jaggi, head of the Society For Inclusive Development (SFID), a Dehradun-based non-governmental organisation, for the local support.
Subsequently, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Strides Acrolab and the district administration of Uttarkashi in January to start the construction of the anganwadi centres.
"It was a vision of the Strides Foundation to support young children of Uttarakhand who were badly affected due to the damage caused to anganwadi centres by floods last year. We adopted eight such anganwadi centres," said P Sathyanaran, managing trustee of the Strides Foundation.
After getting the land and necessary approvals for design and structure, the company began construction work of the four centres at Sunali, Mairana, Srikot and Nagihala villages in Purola. The company spent Rs 8-9 lakh on each of the four centres through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds.
"Given the topography of the villages, the work was very tough to construct the four anganwadi centres due lack of basic infrastructure facilities." said Jaggi.
