VIJAYAWADA: As many as 135 children in the State have become orphans as their parents fell victim to Covid-19 during the second wave. In all, 1,912 children have lost one of their parents due to Covid from March 1 to May 26. Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW) Director Kritika Shukla said the department sent a report to the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development on Friday on the orphaned children in Andhra Pradesh. The steps initiated for the rehabilitation of the orphaned children were also explained.
“The Ministry of Women and Child Development is creating a centralised digital database so that it can monitor and help the orphaned children. The Union Ministry has initiated measures to support each and every orphan child. “We collected the data of children who lost their parents due to Covid and verified it with the help of field level staff, including Anganwadi workers and village volunteers,” she said.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) sought information from the States and Union Territories in the first week of May to provide data of the children who lost both their parents due to Covid-19 to the local child protection authorities and ensure their rehabilitation as per the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
Meanwhile, the State government has announced an aid of Rs 10 lakh to each orphaned child in the form of a fixed deposit. All the children below the age of 18 years, whose families are below the poverty line, are eligible for the financial aid. The Rs 5,000 interest accrued on the deposit per month will be utilised for the sustenance of the children. After attaining the age of 25 years, the beneficiary can redeem the fixed deposit amount. The Medical and Health Department has issued guidelines for the implementation of the scheme.
District Collectors will issue the fixed deposit bonds to the orphaned children. Fixed deposit bonds for Rs 10 lakh have been issued to 34 orphaned children in the State so far. “All the orphaned children have been sent to Child Care Institutions where they will be adequately rehabilitated,” said Joint Director of Juvenile Department Prasada Murthy.