Mumbai: The Maharashtra Government on Tuesday announced a mobile van squad to enroll the street children for education. The scheme was approved in a cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mantralaya.According to the government, the decision will help the street children of 29 Municipal Corporations in the state. The children will be sent to aganwadi or schools based on their age category. The mobile van squad will also offer medical check-up, protection and counselling to the street children. A Women and Child Development (WCD) Department official said they had rolled out a pilot basis project in Mumbai city, Mumbai suburban, Thane, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur districts in 2022-23. According to the official, there are 71,058 street children are in the above districts as per the survey of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) during the pilot project. Of these, 37,059 street children are in Mumbai alone. “During this period, 3,813 street children were given benefit of this scheme,” the officials said. After the success of the pilot project, the WCD department moved a proposal to convert it into a permanent scheme. The state cabinet on Tuesday approved the scheme with a provision of Rs 8,06,31,000 for this year. “The cabinet has approved deployment of 31 mobile van squads across 29 municipal corporations. Out of 31 vans, three will be deployed in Mumbai,” the official said. Of the total budget, the government will spend Rs 7.90 crore for the mobile van squads, while remaining amount has been earmarked for the advertisement and administrative expenditure. WCD minister Aditi Tatkare said that depriving the street children of education and health is a social injustice. “The mobile van scheme is a ray of hope for them. As per their need, the education, food, medical service and social projection will be provided to them. The smile on the face of every child will be the true success of this scheme,” Ms Tatkare said. According to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), the service will be provided through selected NGOs. A mobile van squad will have four members, namely a counselor, teacher, female staff, driver and caretaker. The van will also have GPS tracking and CCTV cameras. “A social investigation report of the children will be prepared. According to the needs of the children, an individual rehabilitation plan will be chalked out,” an official from the CMO said. Another official from the CMO said that the scheme will be run for next three years. “Post this, the impact of the scheme will be studied and if needed, it would continue,” the official said.
Source link
