The demand was made by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is also in-charge of Women and Child Development (WCD) department.
Seven children including three girls had died on July 9 due to a wall collapse at an AWC (Anganwadi Centre) run from the campus of an upper primary school at Suansia village under Ranpur police station area in Nayagarh district.
"I urge upon you to allocate sufficient funds for construction of nearly 50,000 AWCs in the state so that the children are protected and the aims and objective of ICDS are met fully," Patnaik wrote to Krishan Tirath, Minister of State for Women and Child Development (Independent charge).
Stating that Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) is one of the flagship programmes of the social sector, Patnaik said out of nearly 71,000 AWCs in the state, only about 20,000 have their own buildings and rest are run either in school buildings or in rented houses which are not always appropriate for running an AWC.
"Not only does it deprive children of a meaningful and joyful learning environment, it is also a serious harzard," Patnaik said wondering as to why universalisation of ICDS has taken place without simultaneous provisioning for buildings.
In last two years, the state has pursued and obtained Rs 400 crore from the 13th Finance Commission and Rs 200 crore from the state plan, he said adding construction of the AWC building work is also tied up with IAP (integrated action plan), BRGF (backward region grant fund) and state-funded Biju Kandhamal-Gajapati Yojana.
"Yet the gap is so huge that even this effort is not enough to meet the requirement," Patnaik said in the letter.