Flagging horrific conditions and deaths at the Asha Kiran Home for the mentally challenged, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday instructed the Chief Secretary to intervene immediately and set the situation right and file a report by February 13.
Expressing shock over media reports, Mr. Kejriwal also hit out at Dilraj Kaur, the Secretary of the Social Welfare Department, which runs the home meant for mentally-challenged persons.
He sought to know the reason behind Ms. Kaur’s silence on the “11 deaths”, that reportedly took place over the last two months.
“I am extremely disturbed by the prevailing conditions in the home as reported by the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) and the media. Chief Secretary should personally ensure that all these deficiencies are removed within a week to the satisfaction of the DCW,” Mr Kejriwal wrote in a note to Chief Secretary M. M. Kutty.
Mr. Kejriwal further asked Mr Kutty to fix responsibility and hand over the report by February 13.
Sisodia visits home
Meanwhile, deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia visited the facility on Monday. This was Mr Sisodia’s first visit to Asha Kiran after taking charge of the Social Welfare Department.
The reports about Asha Kiran came to light after DCW head Swati Maliwal, along with her team, spent a night at the facility. Seeing the ‘horrific’ condition of the home, Ms. Maliwal shot off notices to the department’s Secretary Dilraj Kaur over the issue on Sunday.
‘Roaming around nude’
The women’s panel has also set up an inquiry committee in this regard.
In a statement, Ms Maliwal had said: “I was shocked to find gross violation of human rights at the home. Women were being made to remove their clothes in the open while being lined up for taking a bath. Completely nude women were roaming around in the corridors.”
“Moreover, the corridors of the dormitory had CCTV cameras, which are being monitored by male staffers. The commission saw the CCTV footage, which captured mentally-challenged women roaming around nude,” said Ms. Maliwal
‘We are understaffed’
Meanwhile, in their defence, officials at Asha Kiran said that they are understaffed.
An official said that the number of employees may seem a lot, but the staff has to work on a shift basis.
“We have been asking for more staff for over two years. Taking care of such people is not easy,” said the official.
In the past two months, 11 deaths were reported from Asha Kiran.
“Of these, six people died in hospital while five deaths took place inside the home. We know there are lapses but we need staff, especially for the morning shift,” said the official.
Blame game
Opposition BJP and Congress sought to corner the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and blamed it for the ‘11 deaths’.
After Mr. Sisodia’s inspection, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari also visited the shelter home and termed the deaths “shameful” for the AAP government and asked it to take “responsibility”.
The Delhi Congress also slammed the Kejriwal-led government saying that the “Social Welfare department was running without a full time Minister”.
