Food supply at 20 govt daycare centres disrupted

Originally posted in New Age on 2 April 2026

Parents have been asked to bring food for their children on their own as food supply for children at 20 government-run daycare centers was suspended following unpaid bills on Wednesday.

Due to nine months of unpaid food bills, two contracting firms have announced that from Wednesday, they would stop supplying food to the centres, operated under the Department of Women Affairs’ project titled ‘Establishment of 20 Child Daycare Centres’.

After media reports on the issue on Tuesday, the ministry quickly responded and women and children affairs minister Abu Zafar Md Zahid Hossain instructed authorities concerned to resolve the problem quickly.

Authorities said that the food supply resumed in the afternoon.

Women affairs department director general Zinat Ara told  New Age that food services were disrupted on Wednesday morning but the food supply resumed from the lunch time for the children as the ministry had already taken steps to solve the issue.

‘There was funding allocated for the project but due to some complications, some payments were pending. We have already started to clear the dues,’ she said, hoping that the issue would be resolved soon.

The project’s tenure ended in June 2025 and was extended for one more year until June 2026.

Following the extension, the project implementation committee recommended extension of the contract with the contractors, but it was not approved by the project steering committee.

As a result, the contractors did not receive payment for nine months although continued supplying food.

Each of the 20 centres, 10 in Dhaka and 10 outside Dhaka, has accommodation for 60 children. Children aged four months to six years are kept at the centres from 8:00am to 6:30pm for monthly fees determined based on parents’ income.