A day after a State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) team visited two ashrams and asked for the cancellation of their NOCs, their owner Swami Anupmanand Giri filed a complaint against the chairperson of the child welfare body Usha Negi at the District Magistrate’s office on Thursday. He said in the complaint that she had forced her entry into the ashram premises and tried to extort money from him. However, Negi rubbished the charge and said that he is desperate to shield himself from an inquiry into the sordid state of things in the two ashrams where many children are living in a miserable condition. Notably, following the visit of the team, Negi had urged the DM to cancel NOCs of the two ashrams-Hari Om Ashram and Shiv Om Ashram-given the poor facilities being provided to the children inmates.
Asked to comment on the complaint lodged against her, Negi said while talking to The Pioneer that the team she led had dared to enter the premises while no officer was ready to enter. She, further, said that the allegation was baseless as the team had entered the premises of both the ashrams along with teams of police and media. “Everything was clear. The motive behind the complaint is to scuttle a probe which would expose things fully,” she said.
She, further, informed that the commission had acted after it had received several complaints against the ashrams from Uttarakhand State Commission for Women. “Such complaints cannot stop us from visiting more such houses where children are living.
It is our duty to ensure they are well cared for and they enjoy the basic facilities of living,” Negi said and added that the officers who keep turning blind eye to the shabby state things of the ashrams must explain their callousness to the commission.
Negi said that the commission would have the children living in the ashrams shifted either to Bal Niketan or to Nari Niketan in the coming days. Presently, 39 children-both girls and boys are living in the Hari Om Ashram while 14 girls aged above 10 years are living in Shiv Om Ashram.