Lucknow, Sep 28 (IANS): Lauding the tireless efforts of Anganwadi workers in controlling the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday distributed smartphones to anganwadi workers and said that smart anganwadi will be the foundation for the all-round development of children.

He said that the use of smartphones and technology will make their work even smarter.

Adityanath, while distributing smartphones to 1,23,000 anganwadi workers at an event held in Lucknow on Tuesday, said, "Smartphones will make your work even smarter and this smartness should be your identity. Smartphones will provide health-related information of every child, making the daily work easy and transparent."

The Chief Minister also distributed 1,87,000 New-born Growth Monitoring devices (infantometer) to each anganwadi centre to measure the level of growth of new-born children.

He also handed over smartphones to 20 workers, while 10 were provided with growth monitoring devices. The remaining devices were distributed by local public representatives in the districts.

Adityanath said that before 2017, Anganwadi workers were known only for protests but now they are playing an important role in the nutrition and development of children with full commitment.

He said that during the second wave of the pandemic, surveillance committees were formed to check on the spread of the disease in the rural areas. The Anganwadi workers, as members of these committees, went door-to-door to provide medical kits and made people aware of the vaccine. With their dedication and work, the workers changed the perception of the people, the Chief Minister said.

He further said that if Uttar Pradesh has successfully eradicated the encephalitis disease by 95-97 per cent, the credit goes to the Anganwadi workers.