Expressing displeasure over the death of 11 inmates of Asha Kiran Home for the mentally challenged, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday directed the Chief Secretary to intervene immediately and set the situation right and file a report in a week. A visibly livid Chief Minister also upbraided the Secretary of the Social Welfare Department that runs the home, and sought to know the reason behind her silence on the “11 deaths”, that reportedly took place over the last two months.
“I am extremely disturbed by the prevailing conditions reported by DCW and in the media on the home. The Chief Secretary should personally ensure that all these deficiencies are removed within a week to the satisfaction of DCW,” Kejriwal wrote in a note to Chief Secretary MM Kutty.
He further asked Kutty to fix responsibility and present a report by February 13.
DCW (Delhi Commission for Women) chief Swati Maliwal slapped notices on the department’s Secretary Dilraj Kaur over the issue after spending a night at the home with her team.
The women’s panel has also set up an enquiry committee in this regard. In a statement, Maliwal said she was shocked to find gross violation of human rights at the home “where women were found roaming naked in unhygienic surroundings”. “Women were being made to remove their clothes in the open while being lined up for taking a bath. Shockingly, completely nude women were roaming around in the corridors. “
Moreover, the corridors of the dormitory had CCTV cameras installed which are being monitored by male staffers. The commission saw the CCTV footage which captured mentally-challenged women roaming around nude,” she said.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also made a visit to inspect the home while his visit was disrupted former BJP MlA Kulwant Rana.
Responding in the matter, leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta accused Kejriwal of “cunningly shifting” the responsibility from politicians to bureaucracy. Referring to the order of the Chief Minister to the Chief Secretary, Gupta said, “It speaks of callous behaviour of the Chief Minister that he asked the Chief Secretary to report about visits of the Secretary to the home and why deaths were not brought to the notice of the Government.”
Former Social Welfare Minister Kiran Walia said that the Congress, during the Sheila Dikshit regime, had built five ‘halfway homes’ — including one in Dwarka and two in Rohini — in 2013 to house the mentally challenged people.
“Family members would leave the mentally-challenged people at these homes in the morning and take them away by day-end,” she said. She added that the building of Asha Kiran Home in Rohini was expanded and a number of its inmates shifted to a building in Narela for decongestion.
Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari visited the Asha Kiran Home on Monday, a day after reports of its pathetic conditions surfaced. The BJP state unit issued a statement saying that that Kejriwal cannot escape “moral and legal responsibility for mismanagement” of Asha Kiran Home by shifting responsibility to bureaucrats, while the Congress said the AAP Government had “undone” its work for the mentally challenged.