About 77 girls left in lurch as government home in Tamil Nadu shuts door citing lack of infrastructure

Lack of infrastructure has left inmates of the Annai Sathya Government Children Home for Girls in Madurai in the lurch, with only 35 students who came first getting admitted to the facility.

MADURAI: Lack of infrastructure has left inmates of the Annai Sathya Government Children Home for Girls here in the lurch, with only 35 students who came first getting admitted to the facility.

The move was based on a direction from the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, which said only 35 students would be allowed to stay in the home as per the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015. The reason cited was inadequate infrastructure.

The home had been providing free food and accommodation to 112 students — both orphans and those from poor backgrounds —  who studied at the Kakkai Padiniyar Corporation Higher Secondary School.

As the school reopened on Wednesday, the students flocked to the facility, but were left disappointed. “I am a daily wage labourer in a cracker unit in Sivakasi. My daughter Sridevi has been staying in the home and studying at the corporation school for the last five years. If she is not able to stay in the home, then I will have to stop her studies,” said Alagulakshmi, a single parent from M Subbulapuram.

On information, Deputy Director of Society for Community Organisation (SOCO) Trust S Selva Gomathi came to the spot and ensured that steps would be taken to resolve the problem. “Chances are high that the remaining students will dropout from their schools and lose the opportunity to become educated. While the HC order came last year, no alternative arrangements were made,” she said.

She said the home is operating in a rented building belonging to the Madurai Corporation. As there is a vacant building inside the campus, the Corporation officials should take steps to use  the building to run the home. If so, the SOCO Trust is ready to bear expenses to renovate the building, she said.

Later, the aggrieved students and their relatives  went to the Collectorate and submitted a representation to the District Collector K Veera Raghava Rao, who said alternative arrangements would be made to accommodate the students in other homes nearby.

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