JOIN USMCC and NGOs told to study condition of night shelters
Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim has ordered for a joint survey by NGOs and Mangalore City Corporation officials to check the condition of the night shelters meant for destitutes.
During a meeting chaired by the deputy commissioner here on Saturday, representatives from NGOs alleged misappropriation in the name of night shelters.
Social Welfare Department officer Chittaranjan Das said that there are two night shelters in the city - one in Urwa and another is near Sharavu temple with a capacity of 20 and 50 respectively. There are around 80 destitutes in the city. Around 15- 16 destitutes come to Sharavu, which would be open from 7 pm to 7 am. The Urwa centre, which is a 24-hour care centre looks after around 20 to 25 persons, he said. However, the representatives claimed that the information provided by the officer is wrong.
Representatives from various NGOs requested the administration to provide LPG cylinders at a concession price. To which, the officials said that they can provide only 12 cylinders at concession rate.
Food and Civil Supplies Department Deputy Director M R Bhat said that the department has provision to provide 106 kg (Rs 5.65/kg) of rice and 23 kg (Rs 4.10/kg) of wheat per month to an NGO. Now, there is a stock of 2,670 kg of rice and 2020 kg of wheat. Meanwhile, the DC directed Women and Child Welfare Officer Chandrika to look after the process of providing ration card and Aadhaar card to the occupants of care centres.
A few NGOs expressed their displeasure over the new 15-point guidelines of the Central government on running a child care centre. There is a need for two-year diploma in childcare, degree course in early child education and degree or diploma course in home science. However, the deputy commissioner and Child Welfare officials strongly defended the norms as they framed to prevent exploitation and harassment of kids.
Hilda Rayappan of Prajna Counselling Centre alleged that the centre has not received aid from the government for the last nine months. Taking care of more than 50 children without the government aid is a tough task, she said.
Meanwhile, Child Welfare Council President Nikesh Shetty said that when orphan children are admitted to hospitals, doctors should treat kids on a humanitarian basis even if they are not accompanied by any organisation members.
Vasanth Kumar Shetty of ‘Saanidhya’ said that no action is being taken even though people don’t leave the reserved seat in buses to disabled persons. Road humps should be constructed in school areas. Social activist Vidya Dinakar and others demanded for a toll-free number for bus passengers.
Footpath woes
Judith Mascarenhas worried that people, especially elderly are struggling to cross roads. The roads don’t have proper footpaths. Repeated requests sent to the corporation have failed to elicit any response, so far. Superintendent Engineer Shivshankar said that in future tenders on roads would include footpath and drainage. For old roads, footpath would be constructed using premier FAR amount, he said. Traffic ACP Uday Nayak said that there is staff crunch in the department, however traffic wardens would start working in two days.
RTO Afzal Ahmed Zhan, District Surveillance Officer Dr Rajesh, DCPO Usman and others were present.