GUWAHATI, April 7 - The Northeast Frontier Railway Women Welfare Organisation (NFRWWO) has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Delhi-based Prayas Juvenile Aid Centre (JAC) Society to set up and run an open shelter for care and protection of vulnerable children at the Guwahati Railway Station.
This will be the first-of-its-kind shelter for lost, distressed or destitute children in the North East.
�Under the MoU, an open shelter has been set up at Platform No. 1 at the Guwahati Railway Station for providing care and protection to vulnerable children coming in contact with the Railways, rescued by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Government Railway Police (GRP) or Child Helpline, Child Help Desk and others at the station or at any place adjacent to the railway station,� said Pranav Jyoti Sharma, chief public relations officer (CPRO) of NFR.
He said that the open shelter will be run on a 24x7 basis. �The shelter has approximately 2,000 square feet of accommodation, which would be able to accommodate 25 children and would provide basic services such as nutrition, psychosocial support and medical aid, among other things. It will be used as a transit in restoring the children with their families by following the laid down procedure under the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2015,� said Sharma.
�The shelter has a dormitory, a sick room and a first-aid room, two toilets, two bathrooms, counselling and office room and a store. One caretaker would be provided by the NFRWWO to guard the property and look after the assets. All the operational expenditure required for running the open shelter and for running the Child Help Desks would be provided by the Prayas JAC Society. The day-to-day petty maintenance of the building and electricity and water would be provided by NFRWWO,� he said.
An Oversight Committee, with representation from both the parties, will be set up by the Divisional Railway Manager of Lumding division to keep an oversight to ensure optimum standards of care and protection at the shelter.
Members of Child Welfare Committee, District Child Protection Unit, Station Master or Station Superintendent, RPF Post In-charge, Inspector of GRP, Assistant Personal Officer and Assistant Engineer would be among the members of the Oversight Committee.
Sharma said Prayas JAC Society has also started similar pilot projects at five other railway stations � Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Danapur and Samastipur.
