No place for disabled children in state?

PATHETIC An eight-year-old, mentally challenged boy found in Gorakhpur had nowhere to go till Drishti finally agreed to house him

LUCKNOW: It took years to get shelter homes for special children built in Uttar Pradesh. Finances worth crores, court orders and a lot of persuasion was required to get them ready and functional from April this year. But an eight-year-old, mentally challenged boy found in Gorakhpur has been wandering for shelter for more than 10 days now and is being denied accommodation anywhere in the state.

The homes built in Bareilly, Meerut and Gorakhpur have failed to serve their purpose. Every disabled child found abandoned in the state has nowhere to go. The shelter homes made especially for the purpose refuse to admit such children and those that have no provisions for special care for disabled also refuse to house them. As a result, after being found on the streets, railway stations and in garbage bins, these children have no option but to die.

“There is a government order of the disabled welfare department which describes a few brackets of mild and moderate disabilities for admission of children into these shelter homes, as they are managed by the same department. We feel there is an urgent need to change this GO, as the children with severe disabilities have nowhere to go,” said Renuka Kumar, principal secretary, women and child welfare and chairman of the newly constituted state commission for protection of child rights.

The child will now be brought to the Drishti Samajik Sansthan on Monday, as this organisation has finally agreed to provide him shelter.

“Since Drishti is full to its capacity, we are planning to come up with yet another home in the vicinity of Drishti and give the charge of running the home to Drishti,” added Renuka.

“The worst part is that each abandoned child that comes through the Childline is denied entry in the shelter homes man- aged by the disability welfare department. They alone test the child and declare him/ her to be suffering from severe disability and deny entry. As a result they are brought to me and I am compelled to give shelter to the child,” said Dhiresh Bahadur, husband of late Neeta Bahadur who founded Drishti.