The standard operation procedure (SOP) laid down by the Railway Board to safeguard rights of children arriving at and living on railway stations doesn't seem to have amounted to much. It's been a year since the Board passed an order to implement the SOP immediately, but the order has just remained on paper.
The detailed SOP talks about the role various stakeholders need to play to ensure that children on railway platforms, including those who have run away from home, have gone missing from railway premises and who work there, are safe and protected.
"We received the letter about the implementation of SOP a year back, but we have not been given any funds to implement it," said a city station master. "I have written several letters to my superiors for kick-starting the implementation of the SOP, but I haven't got any reply so far."
According to the SOP, the railways needs to create children assistance centres at all major stations. It further demands that the railways make arrangements for proper clothing, toilet, first aid and medicine for children.
"We don't have a single centre; whenever we get such children, we make a basic entry in our register and hand them over to the Government Railway Police (GRP)," said a station manager.
The SOP instructs the railways to maintain a detailed record of children found alone or in distress on platforms. The station master is expected to maintain a record of the children — name, age, parents' names, details of siblings, address, and reason for leaving home.
The SOP adds that there need to be advocacy messages put up at stations to create awareness on this, installing a functional public telephone at the centres, and creating a sufficient fund with station masters to meet the expenditure on food, clothing, toiletries and first-aid kit, and commute cost when a child is taken to the Child Welfare Committee (CWC).
A station master, however, said, "We aren't given any money to spend on the children, we spend from our own pocket. We just hand them over to the GRP, who later they take them to the CWC."
In numbers
2,985: Children found on suburban railway premises
2,205: Boys
780: Girls
Current practice
Station master takes down basic records of the child found.
He then informs the main control room, which makes an announcement through the public address system about the child.
If no one turns up to claim the child, s/he is handed over to Government Railway Police, which takes him/her to the Child Welfare Committee, and from there the child is sent to a shelter home.
'Child rights issues are secondary for govt agencies'
Child rights activist Santosh Shinde, who is also honorary director of Balprafullta, an NGO, speaks to dna about the sorry state of affairs with respect to the railways' standard operating procedure.
What is the importance of the SOP?
The SOP, if implemented, would have made things much easier for children found on platforms. These children are already under a lot of stress, the SOP would have streamlined the entire process of their rehabilitation and well being.
Why do you think it has not yet been implemented yet?
One has to understand that there is a problem with the way we see the issue of children here in India. Child rights issues, I believe, have always been secondary for governmental agencies. A major reason cited is lack of budget, when there is no budget, infrastructure can't be created. NGOs have always advocated that the existing infrastructure should be used; railways has property that can be converted to child assistance centres. The issue needs to be taken up on a priority basis, only then will there be any progress on it.
Did NGOs follow up with the railways about the SOP?
We have, a number of times, in fact, but there is a lack of cooperation between the state and central agencies, and hence, a lot of work get stuck.
What is needed to be done for children's safety on platforms?
The railways needs to coordinate with the state protection society and Child Protection Committee at the district level. All stakeholders need to be sensitised about this issue, and most importantly, the SOP needs to be implemented thoroughly and properly.
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