Two anganwadi centres in Angara block of Ranchi district have received a bright makeover, and three more in the block will do so, thanks to the corporate social responsibility activity of a cement company.

ACC Cement under its CSR has taken the onus to revamp all five anganwadi centres — the mainstay of mother-and-child healthcare in rural areas — in Angara block.

Recently, chief minister Raghubar Das’s principal secretary Sunil Kumar Barnwal inaugurated two revamped centres in Soso and Nawagarh villages, appreciating the innovative work.

Under the ACC Cement project, the so far the two buildings have been completely renovated, painted and given a bright look with graphics on walls to help women and children get a feel-good experience. Walls are painted with alphabets, animals, birds and graphics on child nutrition, cleanliness and care tutorials. Bright colours have been used.

Jamshedpur based architecture firm Espacio is implementing the project.

ACC Cement CSR head (Chaibasa) Pranav Arya said their main idea was to do something for rural kids and their mothers.

“These are very important centres as they act as the first playschool for rural kids and the place where mothers get contraceptive counselling and supply, nutrition education and supplements. But they look very shabby. So we conceptualised the idea to upgrade them and give them a new look. We wanted to something for children and their mothers in rural areas, and upgrading anganwadi centres seemed to be a good idea. We have also built a Panchayat Bhavan hall in Nawagarh,” Arya said.

While the Soso and Nawagarh anganwadi centres have been revamped, those lined up for a similar makeover are the centres in Obar, Rangamati and Harabera.

Director of Espacio, Kalyan Kumar Patra, said they wanted to make the centres “happy places that mothers and kids love to visit”.

“Anganwadi centres are meant for mothers, toddlers and young children so we wanted to make the spaces warm, inviting and informative too. So after the mandatory painting, we went all creative, painting figures, alphabets, solar system and pictorial graphics on walls with bright colours,” Patra said.

A woman of Nawagarh, Surbari Sit, who is the mother of a four-year-old, said she felt happy at the new-look anganwadi. “It’s so cheerful. It feels good to see all these colours in front of you. Children love looking at colours and cry less,” she laughed.