More than 30 child leaders of the Humara Bachpan Child Clubs along with other community members of different slums in Bhubaneswar presented their charter of demands to CM Naveen Patnaik during the foundation-stone-laying of Rajiv Awas Yojana houses at the Mandap and Munda Sahi slums in the city on Sunday.
“We demand a child-friendly city. The slums are in dilapidated conditions, and as child leaders we will channelise our advocacy to incorporate child-friendly components in schemes that aim at improving living conditions of children,” said Master Subhajit, a Humara Bachpan child leader of a slum near the Odisha University of Agriculture Technology (OUAT) while submitting the charter of demands to the CM.
The child advocates also highlighted their dreams to transform the capital city into a child-friendly city. Improper garbage cleaning, non-availability of dustbins, antisocial activities in school compounds, unsafe housing, poor transport system, hazardous roads and pathways, non-availability of public places for children, zero-ventilated housing and non-supply of drinking water are the major problems of the Mandap and Munda Sahi slums, the child leaders told the CM “I speak on behalf of my friends who get no space to play and also find it unsafe to stay in the slums due to lack of streetlights around. Even the Rajiv Awas Yojana houses are not built properly. There is no proper ventilation, and this poses serious health hazards for the children,” said Master Rupak, another child leader from the Science Park slum.