Bhubaneswar: The Women and Child Development Department held a review meeting of district child protection units under child protection scheme here, Thursday.
On the occasion, Minister for Women and Child Development Department Tukuni Sahu said that child safety is the prime responsibility of parents, teachers and society. She said that the child protection unit must work extensively to rescue children from areas where they face extreme hardships whenever the unit gets a report or information.
Anu Garg, Secretary, W&CD Department, said that officials and all district, block and panchayat level officers must work collectively to stop any case of child abuse, child marriage and strongly implement Juvenile Justice Act. She suggested use of latest information technology for identification of tortured children.
At the review meeting, security and condition of the child care units and children’s safety were discussed. The minister said that it is important to visit the children on a continuous basis by the child care unit to ensure their safety and security. Installation of CCTV cameras and separate bathrooms for boys and girls are some of the aspects which must be looked into, the minister said.
Amid the ever rising trend of child missing cases in Odisha, a new report tabled by the state government in the Legislative Assembly recently claims that over 6,500 children have gone missing in the last four years.
The report has raised serious questions about the government’s programmes meant for safety and security of children in the state. Despite launch of ambitious search and rescue campaigns like Operation Smile (Muskan), the state police have failed to trace more than half of the missing children, the report said.
Earlier, the Women and Child Development Minister Tukuni Sahu had informed the Assembly that 602 children have gone missing in three months since January this year.