Shelter home to shift 30 girl inmates

LUCKNOW: Due to water seeping from the roofs of the shelter home for girls in Motinagar, the management has decided to shift 30 inmates to a neighbouring home.

The shelter home has 90 inmates, who already outnumber the sanctioned capacity. During this monsoon, the water seeped through the roof causing inconvenience to the inmates.

Shelter home superintendent Reeta Tamta said, “We flagged this issue with the higher authorities and they allowed us to shift some of inmates to another shelter home. On Saturday, the Child welfare Committee (CWC) allowed the request and these girls will be brought back when the issue is resolved,” she said.

The government shelter home for girls, Motinagar has the capacity to house 100 girls in two buildings. Initially, the home had two separate buildings for educational and residential purposes. “Now we are managing both in one building as some other institute has been allotted the other building. Now we are full to the capacity,” said Tamta.

A government official, requesting anonymity, said this was the condition of every shelter home.“We have urged the department to look into the repair but nothing has been done so far,” he said. He added, “Shelter homes are overcrowded due to space crunch and the available space is not appropriate for living.”

A child welfare activist Abhinadan Gupta said, “These inmates were probably shifted at the extreme point. So far they were forced to live in the pathetic condition. This is not a small issue.”

In the past one year, four inmates had escaped from this shelter home. The government claimed to have spent money on infrastructure as well as security. “Inmates should feel homely in the shelter home. For this, time and again assistance was announced but the condition of the shelter home building tells a different tale.” CWC member Sangeeta Sharma said, “It is a temporary arrangement. Once the weather is clear, inmates will be shifted back.”

The Motinagar shelter home management has earlier urged the government to arrange additional accommodation due to the increasing number of inmates. “The shelter home had two buildings and the government shifted another institute to one of its building for the time being. But neither new building was built for that institution nor did shelter home for girls get additional accommodation,” she said.