MUMBAI: The state government has approved an initiative that will identify street children in the state, who are either orphaned, destitute or come from extremely underprivileged backgrounds, and gently support them to amalgamate into the mainstream. The initiative will aim to support these children to live a normal life by giving them access to nutrition, medical care, good education and social security.
The state women and child development department on Thursday announced the launch of the initiative, which will be implemented through child-friendly mobile vans managed by non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Named ‘Mobile Squads’, each van will have a counsellor, teacher, caretaker along with the driver. It will have a capacity to accommodate at least 25 children, and will travel through the cities or districts, identifying children who were abandoned by their parents, beggars, child labourers, those who sell wares on streets and traffic junctions, children of sex workers, children who are in need of rehabilitation from any kind of addiction, and those who are staying with their parents in slums but are compelled to do odd jobs.
“The children will be approached first and after taking consent from their parents, will be brought into the van. Those in need of medical help will be taken to the local hospital and accordingly treated. They will be introduced to child literature, songs, theater arts, dance, poetry among other mediums to instill a liking for arts, sports and education,” said a senior official from the women and child development department.
“They will also be made accustomed to personal hygiene such as washing hands frequently with soap, nail cutting, taking bath every day, among others. Once they become habitual to all this, the counsellor will then counsel the child and their parents to encourage them to take admission in a government school, anganwadi or balwadi (nursery),” he added.
State women and child development minister Aditi Tatkare said that the initiative was started as a pilot project and they successfully counselled over 3,000 children in the last one year. “We could counsel 3,813 children of 70,000 children from six districts, including Mumbai, and were able to get them admitted in schools. Considering the success of the project, the state government decided to expand it across all 26 cities of the state,” she said.
For safety purposes, the NGOs will have to inform the local police in advance about the days they wish to make rounds in their jurisdiction. Other regulations include compulsory presence of two female members in the van, which has to be equipped with GPS tracking and CCTV cameras, according to a government resolution (GR) issued by the women and child development department.
The state government has approved deployment of 31 mobile vans across 29 municipal corporations with a total budget of ₹8.06 crore. Out of these, three vans will be deployed in Mumbai, one each for the city, eastern suburbs and western suburbs. The next phase will be extended to municipal councils and pilgrimage sites.