Sex-determination test a must to save girl child: State panel

In a move that aims to curb female foeticide in Maharashtra, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the state legislature has recommended a compulsory sex determination test for all pregnant women. The committee recommended measures such as revealing the sex of the unborn child and tracking the couple in case the woman is carrying a girl child.

The PAC, a legislative committee that examines the strictures passed by the Comptroller and Auditor General, has stated this change in the existing system will help curb female foeticide by reaching out to the couple if the woman carrying the girl child discontinues her checkups. It has also observed that although the Pre-natal Diagonstic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of misuse) Act, 1994, has provisions to take action against errant doctors, it has not succeeded in maintaining the fear in the mind of the parents going for the illegal tests.

“Besides doctors, parents and the district health officers, too, should be involved in the sonography tracking process. The state government should initiate the proposal to the central government for changes in the system,” the committee stated in the report. The report also pointed out lapses in the implementation of the PCPNDT Act.

The coast is clear for the Rs14,000 crore coastal road project.

The Minister of Environment and Forests (MOEF) gave the final environment clearance to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to build the first phase of the road that will stretch from Princess Street on Marine Drive to the Bandraworli sea link.

After the ministry found flaws in the plan, the BMC had submitted two different ones for the south and north phase of the coastal road to receive faster environment clearance. An environmental nod for the north phase is likely to take time because it will cover large tracts of coastal land with mangroves. The BMC aims to put a foundation stone for the first phase before monsoon and complete it by 2019. Actual construction is likely to start after monsoon.

In a letter to the BMC in July last year, the MOEF had said the coastal road proposal recommended to the ministry by the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) had several deficiencies. The BMC then held several meetings with the Centre.

Two weeks ago, the BMC made a presentation to an expert appraisal committee for the environmental clearance.

THE POLICE HAD FOUND 19 ABORTED FEMALE FOETUSES AT MHAISAL, SANGLI, JUST LAST MONTH