Nagpur: The Opposition on Thursday picked holes in the Manodhairya Yojana of State Government and sought changes in the scheme. The issue was raised in Assembly by Opposition Leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and 10 other MLAs.
Notably, Maharashtra Cabinet had approved a scheme aimed at providing financial, medical and legal aid, rehabilitation and counselling to survivors of rape and child abuse. Manodhairya Yojana is implemented by the DCIRB committee, with the district collector as president and the district woman and child development officer as the member-secretary. The other members include the superintendent of police, deputy commissioner of police and the district civil surgeon. Cases of molestation are not covered under the scheme. The scheme, which aims at providing financial, medical and legal aid, rehabilitation and counselling to victims of rape, acid attack and child abuse, was passed by the Maharashtra government after the Bombay High Court directed the state to implement a scheme that provides financial compensation and legal assistance to rape and child abuse victims in July 2013.
In her reply, the Minister for Women and Child Development Pankaja Munde said that the decision to make changes in the Manodhairya Yojana was taken by State Cabinet in July 2017. According to the decision, compensation for rape, acid attack and child abuse survivors was enhanced from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 10 lakh under the Manodhairya Yojana. However, the amount will be given only in the rarest of the rare cases. The revised scheme is being implemented from August 1, 2017. Currently, a committee for further changes/amendments has been formed in accordance with the directives of Bombay High Court. The issue is pending in the court.
On one hand the government has increased the maximum compensation, on the other it has capped the monetary aid offered to rape and child abuse survivors at Rs 1 lakh. The changes were implemented through a GR issued on August 1.
Generic medicines:
The issue of non-availability of generic medicines in government hospitals, nursing homes and private medical shops was raised by Ramesh Kashiwar and Vijay Rahangdale.
The Medical Education Minister Girish Mahajan, in written reply, said that the Food and Drugs Administration has given permission to 198 licensed centres to sell the generic medicines under the Central Government’s scheme. Patients in all the government hospitals are given generic medicines. Similarly, for availability of generic medicines in government hospitals, an e-tender “Swarthyachi Abhivakti’ was floated.
‘Active Trackers’ in Sonography Centres:
Amin Patel and 14 other MLAs raised the issue of equipping of Sonography Centres with ‘Active Trackers.’
The Public Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Deepak Sawant, in his written reply, informed the House that a meeting of expert committee was held at Delhi on August 24, 2015 under the chairmanship of PCPNDT Director. In this meeting, the committee was informed that the ‘Active Tracker’ for curbing gender discrimination is not useful.
The Minister also justified cancellation 74 Sonography Centres under PCPNDT Act. An offence against all the 76 Sonography Centres was registered in the courts in which 20 centres were punished while cases against 27 were pending. The minister was replying to a question raised by MLA Anil Satam and over 30 others.
Vacant posts:
MLA Sunil Shinde raised the issue of vacant posts of Child Development Project Officers, Anganwadi Supervisors, and Sevikas.
The Minister for Women and Child Development Pankaja Munde said in written reply that 30 posts of Child Development Project Officers (Urban) Class-1, 264 posts of Child Development Project Officers (Rural/Adivasi) Class-2, 722 posts of Chief Sevikas, 1672 posts of Anganwadi Sevikas, 1244 posts of Mini Anganwadi Sevikas, and 5296 posts of Anganwadi Assistants are lying vacant in the state.
145 posts of Child Development Project Officers were filled up through Saral Seva Bharti. The ‘Demand Letters’ for 45 posts were submitted to MPSC. The recruitment of Chief Sevikas of Urban Project was stayed following objection raised by Anganwadi Sanghatan.
‘Aaple Sarkar Seva Kendras:’
The non-payment of pending honorarium to operators of ‘Aaple Sarkar Seva Kendras’ was raised by Kunal Patil and 14 other members.
The Rural Development Minister Pankaja Minister informed the members that ‘No Work’ agitation by ‘Aaple Sarkar Seva Kendras’ operators is going on since September 24, 2017 for the said demand. The operators are also demanding cancellation of ‘task confirmation’ condition, Rs 6000 honorarium, payment of deducted honorarium, 60 percent commission in affidavits, honorarium on the lines of Maha Online, social security, reinstatement of removed operators, etc. A Secretary-level meeting was held on October 10, 2017 to look into the demands of the operators. The computer operators have been paid honorariums till June 2017.
