Chandigarh: AAP councillor slams child panel for ‘inaction’

Highlighting critical gaps in the commission’s functioning, Premlata said organising occasional school camps on personal hygiene or topics like good touch/bad touch is not enough

Slamming the Chandigarh Commission for Protection of Child Rights for its “complete inaction”, the Aam Aadmi Party councillor and women’s wing president Premlata on Tuesday said that the body had become nothing more than a symbolic institution, failing to protect and uplift the city’s most vulnerable children.

AAP councillor alleged that children are selling balloons outside hotels. (HT Photo for representation)

“The commission, constituted under Section 36 of the Government of India Act, 2005, and allotted a lavish office in Sector 39, has failed miserably in its mandate. Instead of working for the welfare of underprivileged children, it has become a mere showpiece,” alleged Premlata.

Drawing attention to the plight of beggar children across the city, she said, “Stand at any traffic light or walk through any alley—you’ll find children begging or selling pencils and pens. At tea stalls and roadside eateries, children are working like bonded labourers. Outside hotels, they are selling balloons to survive. Where is the commission for when these children need protection the most? What has the commission done for these children? From Sector 34 market to the exhibition ground, deprived children are everywhere. If the commission cannot rescue these children from the vicious cycle of poverty and exploitation, the head should resign and work from his party office instead.”

Highlighting critical gaps in the commission’s functioning, Premlata said organising occasional school camps on personal hygiene or topics like good touch/bad touch is not enough. “The reality is grim. Drug peddling near schools is rampant, the dropout rate remains high, and addiction is taking over our city. Yet the commission has done little beyond photo-ops.”