Wrong RTI reply causes uncertainty over child care institution

Confusion reigns over a Child Care Institution (CCI) being constructed in Gurgaon. An RTI reply over grants for CCIs stated that no such facility was planned or sanctioned by the state government in the ongoing or previous financial year. Meanwhile, construction of a CCI in Gurgaon has been started.

Confusion reigns over a Child Care Institution (CCI) being constructed in Gurgaon. An RTI reply over grants for CCIs stated that no such facility was planned or sanctioned by the state government in the ongoing or previous financial year. Meanwhile, construction of a CCI in Gurgaon has been started.

The state government is setting up a CCI on 3,000 sqm with a capacity to accommodate 50 children in part 2 of Sector 15. (Parveen Kumar/HT File)

However, senior government officials said that the reply to the RTI application was incorrect.

In reply to an RTI application, which sought information on the number of CCIs sanctioned, Rachita Gupta, the programme manager of the State Child Protection Society, said that no new government homes for children have been planned or sanctioned by the Haryana government for the financial years of 2015/16 and 2016/17.

On the other end, the state government is setting up a CCI on 3,000 sqm with a capacity to accommodate 50 children in part 2 of Sector 15.

Arijit Adhikari, the state coordinator of Bal-Bigul Haryana Alliance on Child Rights who had filed the RTI, said, “Even if the state government allocates fund for a CCI, it should have been in the knowledge of the respective department/agency of the state,i.e, the State Child Protection Society of Haryana, as monitoring of all child protection facilities comes under its purview as per the Integrated Child protection Scheme( ICPS).”

The ICPS follows set guidelines for CCIs, based on which the registration under the Juvenile Justice Act is also done. The grants for implementation of services for CCIs, including its staff, comes through ICPS. The share of a grant for CCI is 75% from the Centre and 25% from the state, as per the data provided by the department of WCD.

The district currently has 11 private-run CCIs, in which there are 231 children. The state has only four government CCIs — in Sonipat, Rewari and two in Karnal. There is a shortage of government-run CCIs in the state. There are around 63 NGO-run CCIs in the state. Most of the NGOs that run CCIs don’t fulfil the criteria under ICPS but are functioning after a grant under the scheme.

All states are required to submit their annual budget to the ministry of WCD every year.

“As per information received from the WCD department of Haryana, no CCI has been sanctioned in the last two financial years (2015-16 & 2016-17). How is this CCI being constructed without the knowledge of the concerned department of the state? It could be a perfect indication of lack of coordination between the state agencies, especially, on matters related to juvenile justice,” Adhikari said.

However, the director of WCD department, Renu S Phulia, said that the information given to the RTI application was incorrect and the construction has been started in Gurgaon. “I will look into how misleading information was provided on the matter.”