According to the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) norms, members of the District Level Home Inspection Committee (DLHIC) and State Level Home Inspection Committee (SLHIC) need to visit each home in a district at least once every quarter.
As CID sleuths unearth the wide network of child trafficking through state and private homes for the destitute and orphans, one important factor that could have acted as a deterrent and has been found lacking at these homes was state monitoring.
According to the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) norms, members of the District Level Home Inspection Committee (DLHIC) and State Level Home Inspection Committee (SLHIC) need to visit each home in a district at least once every quarter. Unless it is for a specific enquiry, the visit should be a surprise one.
In a shocking revelation through an RTI filed by child activist Dipak Bandpopadhyay, it was found out that in over a dozen homes in four districts in south Bengal — Bankura, Birbhum, Burdwan, and West Midnapore, there had hardly been any visit of the officers concerned.
In a reply to the RTI enquiry from the Burdwan district social welfare (DSW) department, it has been stated that out of four such homes — District Shelter Home, Ananda Niketan, Shelter Home for Girls and Boys, Burdwan Blind Academy, and Japatpara Sri Sri Nigamananda Saraswat Sevashram Society, there have been only two visits of the DLHIC members at the District Shelter Home, from 2015 till date. "We have to admit that no other DLHIC or SLHIC officers visited any of the other homes," said a senior DSW officer.
Similarly, in Birbhum district, the RTI replies showed that at six homes — Asha Short Stay Home, Sattyananda Boys Home, Kshanika Short Stay Home, Pusparag Niketan, Suri Centre for Child Welfare and Anandadhara Home — the picture was worse. Since 2013, SLHIC members have only visited Pusparag Niketan twice, and Anandadhara Home once. The other homes have not been visited by SLHIC officials. DLHIC members had visited once in five of the six Homes since 2013.
Chakkumar Association in West Midnapore received two visits from SLHIC members since 2013 and not a single visit from the DLHIC since 2013.
Pratik Home in Bankura district received no SLHIC or DLHIC visits in the last two years, whereas Sumangalam Home in the same district received three visits by the SLHIC and two by the DLHIC members in the same period.
Speaking to DNA, which has access to all the replies of the RTI, Bandopadhyay said, "Authorities of the DSW department at Nadia, Purulia, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, and Howrah districts have not replied in spite of repeated letters written to them. Had the monitoring system to these homes been strong enough, officials allegedly involved in child trafficking would have been deterred."
State Woman and Child Development and Social Welfare Minister Dr Shashi Panja told DNA that they were looking into the matter for a more stringent application of the rules. "We do make surprise visits, especially to the state-run homes. We may not be very regular, but after the alleged involvement of home officials with the child trafficking racket, we will apply the rules more stringently. We are in the process of taking in new members for the purpose," she said.
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