No Child In Odisha Must Sleep In Open During Winter: OSCPCR

Bhubaneswar: With winter setting in, the Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (OSCPCR) on Wednesday asked district collectors to ensure that no child sleeps under the open sky in chilly weather conditions.

The order from the Commission came after it undertook a suo motu inquiry and looked into the complaints related to violation and deprivation of child rights under CPCR. The Commission has directed the collectors to comply with its order within 15 days, The New Indian Express (TNIE) reported.

“It has been observed that there are children along with their homeless parents sleeping under open sky in the chilly weather condition in many urban areas. This raises serious concern for their safety and security,” Commission Chairperson Sandhyabati Pradhan was quoted as saying adding that this makes them vulnerable to COVID-19 infection.

What the collectors have to do?

• Organise special awareness drives for identification of vulnerable children and their families in all urban local bodies under their districts.
• Put in place a dedicated telephone/Whatsapp helpline number and take steps to attend grievances within 30 minutes of receiving the complaints.
• Ready shelters for the urban homeless.
• Make arrangement for temporary shelter in coordination with the urban local bodies and State Urban Development Agency.

The OSCPCR chairman asked the collectors to put adequate safety measures in place and organise counselling programmes for the urban homeless on COVID-19 guidelines and precautionary measures, the report added.

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