BHUBANESWAR: Employees of the secretariat, women in particular, will no longer have to worry about making arrangements at home for their children while they are at work. The state government will soon open a creche facility on the premises of Lok Seva Bhawan for children aged six months to six years) of the staff.
As per a notification issued by the Women and Child Development department on Monday, children in the age group of six months to six years (higher in exceptional cases) will be taken care of at the creche. The kids will be looked after by well-trained ‘creche sahayikas’ who will also conduct age-appropriate activities for them. The facility will remain open from 9.30 am to 7 pm on all working days except government holidays.
Initially, 10 to 15 children will be housed in the creche with priority being given to children in six month to three year age bracket. Enrolment will be done on first-come-first-serve basis, the notification read. As far as infrastructure is concerned, the facility will have waiting area for parents and nursing corners for new mothers. The creche service, however, will not be free. Employees will have to pay a one-time registration fee of Rs 2,000 and monthly fees of Rs 1,500 to avail the facility.
The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, was amended in 2017 to provide creche or workplace child care centre facilities at workplaces employing 50 or more people. Following an OHRC order to the state government over opening of creches in government offices, the latter had written to all departments in July,2020 to implement all provisions of the Maternity Benefit Act including creches. Subsequently, many of the government offices including police stations had opened the facility for their employees.
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