A delegation of Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (ASCPCR) on Wednesday visited Halmira tea estate, the epicentre of the worst ever hooch tragedy in the history of Assam.
The delegation led by Sunita Changkakati, chairperson, Pilu Hazarika and Rupa Hazarika, members and Rajiv Kumar Jha, technical consultant met and interacted with children who have lost their parents by consuming spurious liquor.
The team has been accompanied by the child welfare committee (CWC) and child protection unit (CPU) of the district, district magistrate and the management of the tea garden.
The delegation had met the deputy commissioner of Golaghat, Dhiren Hazarika and urged him to ensure that the ex gratia amount of two lakhs announced by the state government does not fall in the wrong hands and also to open a bank account in the name of the orphan children and credit the amount of compensation in to these accounts only.
The ASCPCR has organized two meetings in Halmira and Gulam Patty area and urged the guardians of the orphaned children to immediately seek permission from the district child welfare committee if they want to keep the children.
“The permission will be given only after proper scrutiny and background check of the intending guardian including their financial prosperity. Otherwise there may be a possibility of these children being engaged as child labours because the guardians themselves hail from economically under privileged section,” said Lukumoni Goswami, chairperson of the Golaghat district unit of CWC while talking to ‘Northeast Now’.
“We will wait for a certain period and if even after that no body seeks permission then our employees will make field visit and we take the orphaned children under our wings. We will also initialte penal prosecution against those guardians under provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015,” Goswami said.
The district child welfare committee has conducted a survey in Golagaht district in identifying the orphaned children who have lost their parents in the hooch tragedy and have identified a total of thirty four orphaned children. The ages of these children are in between 0 years to 16 years.