Mumbai, May 13 (PTI) The Maharashtra government would soon roll out mobile vans with teams of social workers to rehabilitate street children in cities by offering them facilities such as medical check-up and counselling besides encouraging them to pursue education.
The Maharashtra cabinet on Tuesday gave its nod for statewide implementation of the scheme after a pilot project was successfully implemented in Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur, said Women and Child Development Minister Aditi Tatkare.
“Denying street children their basic rights to education and health is social injustice. The ‘Mobile Squad’ initiative provides children with access to education, nutrition, medical care and social security,” the minister told PTI.
Mobile squads will offer counseling to street children and their parents, enroll children in school and admit orphans and single-parented children into child care institutions.
The teams will also arrange medical screening and treatment, offer support for de-addiction, help children suffering from malnutrition or those with physical challenges, facilitate rehabilitation through local NGOs and professionals, make available therapy and vocational services for adolescents, and help children get access to various government schemes.
”During the pilot phase, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) conducted a survey, which showed there were 70,000 street children in the six districts we covered, including 37,000 in Mumbai alone. We reached 12,000 children, and 3,813 of them were provided with mobile van services including medical check-ups, Aadhaar enrollment, motivation towards education, school admissions and placement in anganwadi or residential schools as well as admission of orphaned children to children’s homes,” said Tatkare.
The cabinet on Tuesday approved deployment of 31 mobile vans across 29 municipal corporations with a total budget of Rs 8.06 crore. Out of 31 vans, three will be moving in Mumbai, the minister informed.
In the next phase, the initiative will be extended to municipal councils and pilgrimage sites, she said, adding the scheme provides an opportunity to transform street children’s lives through education and rehabilitation. PTI MR KRK
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