Chandrapur Collector orders district-wide drive against child labour, child protection panels in every village

Chandrapur District Collector Vasumana Pant has directed officials to run an inspection drive against child labour properly, in order to secure the rights and protection of children in the district. She also said child protection committees should be set up in every village and every urban ward to stop atrocities against children, child marriage, child labour and exploitation of children, and that their reports should be submitted.

The meeting was held at the Collector's office. It took up the quarterly review of the work of the District Child Protection Unit, the district and railway Childline, the Child Welfare Committee and the Juvenile Justice Board. Pant chaired the meeting. She reviewed in detail the various schemes related to child protection and the pending cases.

Pant said protection, care and rehabilitation of children must be given the highest priority. She said pending cases of issuing orphan certificates to orphaned children in the district should be cleared urgently. She also said the rehabilitation process for children admitted to children's homes should be speeded up, and eligible children rehabilitated as early as possible as per rules. For this, the District Child Protection Unit is to act in coordination with the agencies concerned.

She suggested that places in the district where child labourers are likely to be found should be inspected. She also said the departments concerned should work in coordination with one another to prevent child labour. She said the Childline number 1098 should be taken to every village and ward in the district so that children in distress and in need of care and protection get help immediately. She also instructed that cases pending before the Child Welfare Committee and the Juvenile Justice Board be disposed of urgently as per rules.

At the meeting, District Women and Child Development Officer Prakash Bhandakkar presented a review of the work of the District Child Protection Unit, Childline 1098, the Child Welfare Committee and the Juvenile Justice Board.

Present were Child Welfare Committee chairperson Adv. Kshama Basarkar, Education Officer Ashwini Kelkar, probation officers Atish Chavan and Sayali Patil, District Child Protection Officer Ajay Sakharkar, psychiatrist Sandeep Bhatkar and Childline district coordinator Abhishek Mohurle. Representatives of the District Legal Services Authority and the Assistant Labour Commissioner's office, members of the Child Welfare Committee and the Juvenile Justice Board, and officials and staff of various departments also attended.