Anganwadi workers and helpers working at over 55,000 centres in Andhra Pradesh have threatened to boycott the Face Recognition System (FRS) through which the government is supplying nutritious food to pregnant and lactating women, saying that it is becoming ‘extremely difficult’ to reach out to the beneficiaries, especially those living in the hostile terrains, to confirm their identities.
The Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW) Department introduced the FRS at 55,607 anganwadi centres in the State a few months ago for implementing the YSR Sampoorna Poshana and YSR Sampoorna Poshala Plus schemes.
The beneficiaries need to visit anganwadi centres during the first week of every month and get their identities verified through the FRS installed in the mobile phones of the aganwadi staff before availing of the kits. The government is supplying rice, oil, dal, eggs, milk, atta, chikkies, ragi flour, dry dates and jaggery to the beneficiaries.
