Paralakhemundi: Continuing its efforts to identify orphan children and rehabilitating them for a decent future, the Gajapati District administration has been on a mission mode and is leaving no stone unturned to make sure that not a single orphan is devoid of his rights. Powered with the strength of 5T Initiatives, the district administration conducted an orphan survey in the district in 2020 in which 525 orphans identified who needed the intervention to be rehabilitated. The survey was carried out with the active participation of Anganwadi workers in all the Panchayats and the District Child Protection Unit collected all relevant data of the children.
The district administration, under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, initiated the process for rehabilitation. For the rehabilitation of the identified children, Camp Sittings of the Child Welfare Committees are being organized in various places of the district. While a Camp Sitting has already been organized at Kashinagar, similar programs will be organized at Gosani, Gumma, Laxmipur, Rayagada, R.Udayagiri, Ramagiri, Mohana, Chandiput and Adava.
The CWC Camp Sitting organised at Kashinagar saw the attendance of 25 orphan children with their caretakers. Officials of the Child Welfare Committee, Block Development Officer, Childline, Sakhi and other officials deliberated on how the orphan children will be rehabilitated.
Commenting on the administration’s efforts to rehabilitate orphan children, Collector Anupam Saha has said that, “Identification of orphan children is a continuous process, but we have accelerated the process following 5T Initiatives. We are trying to rehabilitate all the orphans and give them the best education and other facilities so that they have a bright future. Our ground level workers are actively helping us in this initiative and I hope Gajapati District will be a model district in protecting the orphans.”