Kolkata, Feb 19 (IANS): The West Bengal government will recruit inmates of government and private-run shelters as workers in the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), Minister for Women and Child Development Sashi Panja said here Wednesday.

"The inmates of shelter homes remain confined all their lives, but working as anganwadi workers under the ICDS programme will bring them back into the mainstream. We have shortlisted 83 inmates from government homes and 28 from homes run by NGOs," Panja told mediapersons here.

Panja said that of the 5,053 posts of supervisors for the ICDS project in the state, 2,825 are vacant due to non-recruitment over many years.

Panja said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has taken the initiative to fill up vacant posts in Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapore districts.

"The remaining posts of supervisors will be filled up after the Lok Sabha polls," she said, adding that the upper age limit for applying as anganwadi workers has been increased to 45 years from 35 years.