The State government will set up a task force comprising two officials each from the police and the women and child welfare department to trace the women who escaped from the Mankhurd shelter home on Monday.

Varsha Gaikwad, state women and child welfare minister, told the media on Tuesday that the task force will also ensure that the women return to their homes, even in foreign countries, after legal formalities are complete.

Gaikwad will meet the home department on Friday and ask her department to communicate with the Bangladeshi authorities in Delhi to discuss the process of sending the women back to their countries. The Bangladeshi women will be released on December 15. So far, 114 women have been sent back to Bangladesh.

There are currently 108 women in the shelter home, out of whom 58 are from Bangladesh. There are also 50 women from different states in India, including four from Maharashtra. Gaikwad said her ministry will need funds of Rs65 lakh to construct a wall, an iron mesh and an additional room in the shelter home.

The Bombay high court had appointed the committee to probe the allegations of harassment after 36 inmates had escaped on October 27.

The FIRs were initially filed against deputy commissioner of women and child welfare Ravi Patil, divisional deputy commissioner Bharat Pokharkar, acting superintendent of the shelter home Shobha Shelar, caretakers and other staff.

(With inputs from PTI)