Stepping up their efforts to take action against unregistered ultrasound clinics conducting illegal sex determination tests, the South-West district administration has encouraged citizens to report such clinics running without registration to them, promising that their names and identity would be kept secret and a reward of Rs5,000 shall be provided to the informant if the information turns out to be correct. This step was taking after noting that the sex-ratio in several areas of Delhi is considerably lower than the national average and deteriorating.
Now, the citizens can share the details of such unregistered clinics anonymously on the email id - betibachao.swd@gmail.com - and action would be taken within 24 hours of any complaint being received. District Magistrate (South-West Delhi) Ankur Garg said that since both parties in a sex-determination test (the parents and the clinic) are willing parties, it becomes very difficult to catch such transactions. "However, people in the area generally know if any clinic is operating illegally in their locality. By providing monetary incentives for such information, we are hopeful of increasing our access manifolds. A variety of other measures such as sending decoy customers and surprise inspections by sub-divisional magistrates shall also be intensified over the coming few weeks," said Garg.
Further, it has been decided that any informant giving effective information on any out-of-the-school girl child in the age-group of 6 to 14 years shall also be given a reward of Rs500 by the district administration. The administration will take all steps to ensure that all such girl children are suitably rehabilitated and admitted to schools. Against the National Child Sex Ratio of 918, the figure for SW District is only 845, which is the 10th lowest amongst all the districts of the country. The target of the district is to increase it by 10 points over a period of next one year.