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7 children’s shelters down shutters in Lucknow this year
The closures were a result of an audit of 129 such facilities to check if they meet the conditions as necessitated by authorities.
Seven private shelter homes for children in Lucknow have been shut down this year for failing to meet the conditions necessitated by the women and child development (WCD) department of the state, officials said. All such facilites had the capacity to look after 20 to 35 children.
The latest two downed their shutters as recently as Sunday. Over 100 boys and girls were relocated to Rajkiya Balika Griha in Para and Rajkiya Bal Griha on Mohaan Road after an incident there.
The closures were a result of the department ordering an audit of 129 NGO-run shelter homes for children across the state on December 16 last year.
The order, issued by WCD director Sandeep Kaur, intended to identify and shut down the child shelters that were behind on registrations or were failing to meet the conditions required by the department. It was in response to the video of a shelter home superintendent in Agra assaulting an inmate with a footwear that went viral on social media in September of that year.
District probation office of Mahila Kalyan (WCD) Vikas Singh said, “Seven shelter homes in Lucknow have been shut down, one as recently as last week.” Two Lilawati Munshi orphanages, two Shriram Audhyogik orphanages, Anjuman Balika Griha, Shia Yatimkhana children’s shelter, and Gangotri Shishu Griha had been shut down completely, he added.
“In the latest case of Shriram Audhyogik orphanage, nine girls, aged 10 to 18 years, ran away from the shelter in the early hours. After the incident, all 33 inmates were relocated to the government girls’ shelter home in Para, and their cases were processed by child welfare commission,” he said.
The missing nine girls were traced and brought back shortly. After the incident, children from the NGO’s other shelter were also relocated.
“Others were yet to complete their registration paperwork. Some were not properly equipped with rooms or had enough space to house the number of children they had,” explained Singh.
Meanwhile, State Commission for Protection for Child Rights (SCPCR) member Shuchita Chaturvedi pointed out that the closure of several shelter homes was causing an overflow in government facilities. “A shelter that can care for only 100 girls, some of whom live there with their toddlers, is now also looking after the children who had to vacate a private shelter home with the same number of staff members,” said Chaturvedi referring to the girls’ shelter home in Para.
On any given day, even without the new residents, the Para shelter houses at least 125 girls against its capacity for 100, superintendent Safalta Singh had said earlier. Now, the number of inmates at the facility has surpassed 200.
The relocated children are residing at government shelters either till the time they are reunited with their guardian/s or an alternate facility is found for them.
