Udupi: Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) chairperson Shashidhar Kosambe called for the effective implementation of the rights, rules and facilities introduced by the govt for holistic development and protection of children.He was speaking at a progress review meeting on the implementation of the RTE Act, Pocso Act, Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, and Juvenile Justice Act, for district and taluk-level officials of various departments at Rajatadri in Manipal, recently.He said there are 1,59,731 children in the district from Classes 1 to 10, and each one of them should have Aadhaar seeding as well as Aadhaar mapping. He urged officials to complete this process within 30 days, failing which, a report would be submitted to the govt recommending suitable action against concerned officials.He said in-patients receiving treatment in govt hospitals should be provided free food, including rice, sambar, chapati, egg and banana. However, only some of these items were provided in certain places, and he directed the DC to look into the matter. He also said the functioning of doctors in those hospitals should be reviewed to ensure they are discharging their duties in accordance with rules.He said more than 76 scanning centres are functioning in the district and that each of them must operate in accordance with the govt’s PCPNDT Act. He directed that all scanning centres in the district be inspected continuously in a campaign mode over the next two weeks, and that a report on proper record maintenance be submitted to the commission.Kosambe said that, to facilitate the protection of children’s rights and delivery of other benefits, a child-friendly gram panchayat campaign should be undertaken in every gram panchayat. Accurate data should be maintained on single-parent children, orphans, school dropouts, children left out of vaccination and others, and support should be extended to them.He said all departments running residential schools and hostels must take special care to protect the rights of children staying there. Kosambe said CCTV cameras must be installed in all hostels in the district. The health department should conduct regular health check-ups of students. Awareness programmes should also be organised for hostel inmates on drug abuse, cybercrime and other issues. Officials from the transport department must take steps to develop a child-friendly system.He said there are 1,481 children with disabilities in the district, of whom, 575 are yet to receive UDID cards.Commission member Dr Thippeswamy KT said that although a circular was issued making it mandatory to display child helpline numbers in all govt offices in the district, during his visit it was found that the helpline number was not displayed in the office of the child development project officer at Brahmavar taluk.
