District Collector Babu A. on Monday said the administration would speed up the process to repatriate the Bangladeshi girl, Sona (name changed), who has been put up at an NGO home here. “We have no information about the illegal stay of any Bangladeshi national at any private home in Vijayawada. Instructions were issued to Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW) Project Director K. Krishna Kumari to shift the girl to a government-run home and submit the case details,” Mr. Babu said.
Acting on the Collector’s orders, WD&CW officials took possession of the girl from the NGO home on Monday evening and shifted her to a government-run home.
The girl had reportedly attempted suicide by slashing her wrist using broken bangles few days ago.
ADVERTISEMENT
Curiously, the NGO home staff kept the incident under wraps. “The staff did not alert CWC officials of the incident,” CWC Chairman B. Nagesh Rao said.
Meanwhile, the girl said she was lodged at the Childline home for four months and shifted to Navajeevan Bala Bhavan a month ago. “There is nobody to listen to my problems at the home. I can’t stay here anymore,” Sona said.
The CWC Chairman clarified that instructions had been issued to the home management to hand over Sona to government officials, but they did not follow the orders.
ADVERTISEMENT
However, the committee members did not explain as to why the girl was kept in private homes for a long period.
Neither the CWC nor home representatives shared details about Ms. Sona with police or officials concerned on Monday in spite of an assurance from police that steps would be taken to repatriate her.
NGOs refuse to handover the victim to officials