Mumbai: 'Bogus' kids in care centres, funds gypped

Public Accounts Committee points to loopholes in institutes, find 75K such children wasting government money

Highlighting a major lapse, the state Legislature's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has pointed to how around 75,000 bogus or ineligible children were registered in child care institutions, leading to the state government's funds being siphoned off.

The committee has also pointed to lacunae in the functioning of these institutions, like children in need of care and protection not being segregated from juveniles in conflict with law lodged there. This is because these juvenile delinquents can influence other inmates and render them vulnerable to crimes like theft, drug use and sex abuse.

In its report on the General and Social Sector for the year ended March 2015, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had pointed to deficiencies in the working of these bodies, which are meant to provide institutional care to children in need of care and protection.

"Between 2010 and 2015, a total of 95,000 children were taking benefit of these schemes in 1,153 child care institutions. During an inspection, it was found that a large number of children, who had homes of their own, had been admitted to these child care institutions. When the department examined every case during the inspection, it was found that only 17,000 of these children were found to be eligible for admissions. The other children were handed over to their parents. The department told the committee that at present, these child care institutions have around 21,000 children. This means, more than 75,000 bogus or ineligible children were registered here and crores of public money were siphoned off from the government on unnecessary expenses," the report said.

It indicted the child welfare committees and those responsible for overseeing their functioning at the district and state level for neglecting their mandate of providing institutional care and social rehabilitation to children who needed it.

"If a detailed examination of each case was conducted while admitting every child to in these homes and only those eligible were admitted, it would have helped restrict the number of inmates," the PAC said, adding that budgeted funds could have been used more effectively.

"In this case, crores of government monies have been spent unnecessarily and the committee refuses to believe this was inadvertent or due to negligence. This is a serious issue and the possibility of connivance to siphon off funds cannot be denied, and hence, it needs detailed and urgent investigation," it opined.

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