Maha govt cancels licenses of 18 children`s shelte

Mumbai: Maharashtra Government has cancelled the licenses of 18 children`s shelter homes in Marathwada region after scrutiny of over 500 such premises. "This is in addition to cancellation of licenses of 70 such homes in the rest of the state recently," officials in the Women and Child Welfare Department said. According to the officials, 99 special squads set up to look into the functioning of children`s shelter homes in Marathwada region earlier this month, submitted their reports to the Commissioner of women and child welfare department last week. "After the scrutiny of the reports, the commissioner ordered cancellation of licenses of 18 shelter homes. Scrutiny of other cases is in progress," the officials informed. The special squads to probe the functioning of the shelter homes were set up following complaints of lack of basic facilities for the inmates, irregularities in the construction of the shelter home buildings, actual number of inmates admitted, for which, government funds are sought among others. There are about 1,100 children shelter homes in the state, out of which, the largest number-- 595, are in the Marathwada region. Children from the age group of six to 18, who need care and protection irrespective of whether they are orphaned or not, are enrolled in these shelter homes. The decision to enrol such inmates in the shelter homes is taken by the child welfare committee at the district level. PTI