BHUBANESWAR: A CAG audit into functioning of child care institutions (CCIs) of the state has brought to fore poor physical infrastructure, absence of security measures and an alarmingly dipping utilisation of funds meant for these special homes.
The report found that utilisation of available funds continually declined from 70.47 per cent in 2016-17 to 31.60 per cent in 2020-21. The CCIS are covered under Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), a Centrally-sponsored scheme. Funds are placed with the Odisha State Child Protection Society (OSCPS).
The CAG examined records at the women and child development department, OSCPS and eight out of 30 district child protection units (DCPUs). It also examined records and conducted joint physical inspection of 60 out of 93 CCIs in the test checked districts. The CCIs which were covered under the audit exercise comprised 43 children homes, two observation homes, eight open shelters and seven specialised adoption agencies.
The CAG found that in 2016-17, at least Rs 81.93 crore was available with OSCPS but only Rs 57.74 crore amounting to 70 per cent was utilised. The utilisation has ever since seen a declining trend. From 47.17 per cent in 2017-18, it fell to 31.6 per cent in 2020-21. According to the audit, the unutilised balance in 13 components was more than Rs 1 crore in each component.
The report pointed out that the non-utilisation of funds available with the OSCPS was not justified, especially during persistent inadequacies in infrastructure and human resources in CCIs as well as shortcomings in the service delivery.
Odisha Government even ignored the guidelines of ICPS to carry out baseline surveys, the CAG said. The ICPS guidelines mention that baseline surveys should be carried out by DCPUs in districts selected by department of women and child development.
The objective of surveys is to identify vulnerable children and assess the requirements for their care and development. However, the baseline surveys for identification of vulnerable children and their institutionalisation were not conducted by seven out of eight test checked districts.
Besides, only two per cent of the vulnerable children identified in the surveys were put in CCIs. The criteria used for selecting children for institutionalisation was not shared with audit.The WCD department was not regularly identifying districts for conducting baseline surveys in the state. During three years from 2016-17 to 2018-19, none of the districts were identified for the purpose. Only one DCPU (Jharsuguda) conducted surveys on its own during 2016-17 to 2020-21.
It was only in September 2019 that WCD department directed all the districts to conduct the survey after which all the eight test checked DCPUs conducted the survey during 2019-20.Inadequacies in physical infrastructures - dormitories, dining halls, kitchen, open space, and others, were noticed during the survey. Security measures in the CCIs, particularly perimeter security walls were found to be substandard. Children escaping from CCIs through broken perimeter wall was noted in the audit.
Out of the 3,181 children (boys - 1,695 and girls - 1,486) in the CCIs of the eight test checked districts, only 48 children (1.51 per cent) were identified for foster care and of these only 11 (23 per cent) were actually placed under such care.