Jamshedpur : After spurt in cases of escape of the juvenile offenders from the remand-home, the East Singhbhum district administration has decided to set up a watch-tower at the Ghaghidih-based Remand-Home.
Moreover, lack of full-time counselor and adequate space for activity room is a matter of concern. Under secretary in women and child development ministry, Rajesh Kumar inspected the centre gave instructions.
He took stock of the correctional facility and children home for nearly two hours and directed the district child protection officer Chanchal Kumari (who is also in-charge of the children home and juvenile home) to make efforts with the concerned department in the state government for appointment of a full time counselor and make additional facilities for activity room.
“We were asked by the official about counselor and informed that we have been trying to compensate lack of availability of a full-time counselor, which is still lying vacant, by taking help of NGOs. We expressed our inability on a full time counselor as the recruitment has to be done by the state government,” said Chanchal Kumari.
Meanwhile, there is only a single room activity room for both remand home and children home which is inadequate at the moment.
There are 19 boys in the remand home and 19 boys in the children home and it is difficult to accommodate these boys during the activity sessions.
It may be recalled that three of the inmates escaped from the remand-home having escalating a 15-feet high boundary wall of the correctional facility in the night of April 6.
The district social welfare officer said that after the April 6 incident of juvenile offender took place, a team of senior police and administrative officers had carried out a meticulous inspection of the facility.
After the inspection the team had recommended for removal of the barbed-wire fencing from boundary wall as the juvenile offenders had used the barbed wire for hooking a rope made of blanket before making the escape.
The district social welfare officer said that they are making an estimate of expenses for the modification and new installation at the remand-home, and when the process of estimation is over, tender will be floated for getting the project executed.
A senior police official also said a watch-tower and other modification was necessary for the remand home at Ghaghidih.
