Rourkela: Working women in Steel City have to undergo a lot of sufferings due to absence of any crèche or day care centre in workplaces in Sundargarh district, a report said Saturday.
A crèche or day care centre is a place where women working in various private and government establishments can leave their kids in the care of a babysitter before joining their duty and come back when they want to breastfeed their children.
As a result, scores of children within the age group of six months to three years old are deprived of breastfeeding by the mother and motherly care. The situation could have been avoided had there been a crèche in their workplace.
This has happened despite the Industrial Act-1948, Mines and Mineral Development Act-1952, Plantation Act-1951, Inter State Migrant Workers Act-1980 and NREGA Act-2005 backs establishment of crèche or day care centre for women in workplace.
This situation is more acute in Steel City where a majority of women and even their spouses work in various establishments like Rourkela Steel Plant, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT), Rourkela Government Hospital, Ispat General Hospital, Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital, Rourkela Municipal Corporation and a host of industrial firms and other establishments.
However, no industrial firms, corporate houses or any other establishment in Sundargarh district has any provision for day care centre for the children of the working women. As a result, the minor kids in the absence of their mother have to pass their time alone and live a life of neglect.
The working women spending nearly eight hours or more in their workplace could not work in peace always thinking about their children in their absence. This hampers their productivity in the workplace and affects their career growth while it also negatively affects the growth of the kids.
Most of the couples living separately away find it really hard to manage both work and children. They are forced to bring their elderly parents to take care of their children or leave them in the care of their neighbours. The situation has become acute with the crumbling of joint family system as the working women are left to fend for themselves.
When contacted, Sadananda Sahu, a lawyer and leftist leader said that a crèche helps in maintaining the physical and psychological balance of the woman and children and helps the former to concentrate more on their work. He warned that if steps are not taken in this regard then it may negatively affect the entry of women in various establishments.
RK Nayak, deputy director, factory and boiler department said he is yet to receive any complaint or proposal from any department and will look into it if need arises.
PNN