Facing court deadlines, WCD dept directs officers to expedite data on Covid orphans
New Delhi: Facing court-mandated deadlines, the Delhi government's Department of Women and Child Development has now said it will initiate action against officers who are not complying to compile the data on children
orphaned by Covid-19 in the stipulated time, further directing to finish the exercise expeditiously.
According to officials, in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic several children were rendered vulnerable, particularly those who lost either or both parents to the virus or those who were subjected to deprivation due to economic hardships being faced by their caregivers.
"The Supreme Court and High Court of Delhi have also expressed concern over safety and well-being of children affected by the COVID-19," read the circular from the WCD department.
As per the WCD, the district officers are directed to ensure that the data collection of vulnerable children due to COVID-19 pandemic and their production before Child Welfare Committee (CWC) is done expeditiously so that the compliance report can be filed before the Supreme Court and High Court in time.
"In the event of any lapse they would be held accountable for the same. Non compliance will be viewed seriously,"the order read.
According to the WCD, in the prevailing situation of COVID-19 pandemic, it is of utmost importance to ensure that preventive and remedial measures are being taken to protect all the vulnerable children and provide all facilities for their care and protection.
"District Child Protection Officers (DCPO's) in Delhi are taking this task on a war footing. Thus in view of above, the conveners of district task force, nodal officers, district WCD officers are hereby directed to ensure that the District Child Protection Units (DCPUs) in their concerned districts are provided with adequate manpower support from the district office or from the other offices functional in their District (ICDS, CCIs, PMMVY, Poshan)," the order read.
According to officials, the conveners of district task force, nodal officers, district WCD officers, department of WCD should also ensure to expand and expedite department's reach to COVID orphans or children with single parent whether through phone calls or physical visits for verifying such data enabling them to arrange for producing such children before CWCs.
"They also need to facilitate DCPOs to upload data of these children on the Bal Swaraj Portal as desired by NCPCR," one official said.
Till June 12, the Delhi Commission for the Protection of Child Rights had identified 59 kids who had lost both parents to the virus and over 1,300 who had lost at least one parent to the pandemic.
