With the protective home at Merces becoming increasingly unsafe, the department of woman and child development has decided to temporarily shift the rescued women kept at the existing premises to the unoccupied block at Apna Ghar, a state-run shelter home for children, by next week.
The lack of tight security, inadequate manpower and poor infrastructure at the Merces-based protective home are believed to be the reasons for the escapes of women, who had been rescued from flesh trade, from the protective home.
Speaking to this daily, a senior official from the department of woman and child development said that “we have identified an unoccupied girls section building at Apna Ghar with intake capacity of 30 inmates, which has a separate entry and exit, with two big halls, separate washrooms, kitchen room and an isolation room, to shift the protective home inmates temporarily there.”
The official said once the old premises, belonging to Institute of Public Assistance (Provedoria), is upgraded, the rescued women will be shifted back there.
“We alongwith the PWD engineers have carried out a joint inspection of the existing dilapidated protective home building in Merces and asked them to prepare estimates for the renovation work and also suggested them to increase the height of the compound wall,” the official added.
The department also informed this daily about the letter written to the General Administrative Department (GAD) seeking space to shift the protective home inmates, however, the department informed them about unavailability of premises in and around the city.
In 2008, around eight women, who had been rescued from flesh trade, had escaped from the protective home by bending grills. In 2006, seven victims had escaped from the home. Recently, nine inmates have escaped. There are around 15 inmates.
The present condition of protective home is pathetic and it has only two small rooms for inmates with an intake capacity of maximum 25. The wooden flooring and sidewalls are on the verge of collapse and also the window grills are become weak. Moreover, inmates are made to sleep in a confined room of 40 square metre each.
It may be recalled that a proposal was put forth before the government in 2014 to shift the home from its existing heritage building to a new premises proposed at Apna Ghar on a land admeasuring 5000 square metre.
The proposal had been given administrative approval and the GSIDC was entrusted with taking up the work, but no follow-up was done in that regard.
NT Network News
The lack of tight security, inadequate manpower and poor infrastructure at the Merces-based protective home are believed to be the reasons for the escapes of women, who had been rescued from flesh trade, from the protective home.
Speaking to this daily, a senior official from the department of woman and child development said that “we have identified an unoccupied girls section building at Apna Ghar with intake capacity of 30 inmates, which has a separate entry and exit, with two big halls, separate washrooms, kitchen room and an isolation room, to shift the protective home inmates temporarily there.”
The official said once the old premises, belonging to Institute of Public Assistance (Provedoria), is upgraded, the rescued women will be shifted back there.
“We alongwith the PWD engineers have carried out a joint inspection of the existing dilapidated protective home building in Merces and asked them to prepare estimates for the renovation work and also suggested them to increase the height of the compound wall,” the official added.
The department also informed this daily about the letter written to the General Administrative Department (GAD) seeking space to shift the protective home inmates, however, the department informed them about unavailability of premises in and around the city.
In 2008, around eight women, who had been rescued from flesh trade, had escaped from the protective home by bending grills. In 2006, seven victims had escaped from the home. Recently, nine inmates have escaped. There are around 15 inmates.
The present condition of protective home is pathetic and it has only two small rooms for inmates with an intake capacity of maximum 25. The wooden flooring and sidewalls are on the verge of collapse and also the window grills are become weak. Moreover, inmates are made to sleep in a confined room of 40 square metre each.
It may be recalled that a proposal was put forth before the government in 2014 to shift the home from its existing heritage building to a new premises proposed at Apna Ghar on a land admeasuring 5000 square metre.
The proposal had been given administrative approval and the GSIDC was entrusted with taking up the work, but no follow-up was done in that regard.
NT Network News
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