Orphans from state homes rue lack of facilities
Children from government orphanage homes across the state during the protest in Hyderabad. (DC)
Hyderabad: More than 300 children from various government orphanage
homes across the state have launched a protest against the BRS government,
stating that their living conditions are appalling due to a lack of amenities and that the promises made by the government nearly eight years back remained unfulfilled.
The children from the orphanages, aged between two and 25, marched to the
Dharna Chowk in Indira Park with the support of Shantha Sinha, the founder
of the Mamidipudi Venkatarangaiya Foundation (MV Foundation), and Manda
Krishna Madiga, the leader of the Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS),
to express their displeasure with the BRS party over a number of issues,
including insufficient facilities. On June 23, 2015, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao pledged that the state would support orphanages throughout the state with funds and smart cards.
One of the most prominent demands made by the orphan children was that the
government issue them with special smart cards after recognising them as
State children, which would exempt them from having income, caste, and other
certificates. The orphans lamented that the government had not yet distributed smart cards. The Chief Minister, however, has not kept his word 777 days after making the pledge.
The government has proposed setting up a separate integrated campus to
provide orphans with a high-quality education from KG through PG that is
equivalent to quality of education provided by Gurukuls.
However, 13-year-old orphan Ajay, who lives in a state orphanage in Kapra, believes that the government broke its promise. He was abandoned by his parents when he was just a few days old, and is still waiting in the orphanage, hoping that one day his parents will take him in.
Munna, a researcher at Hyderabad Central University (HCU), claimed that the
government had abandoned the state orphanages by failing to provide
facilities and honouring its promises to the orphans made 777 days back.
According to Govindu Naresh Madiga, state president of the MRPS and a member of the Orphanage Rights Protection Association, “the orphanage home
organisers are having a difficult time financially protecting hundreds of
orphanage children who don’t know their parent’s details and even they don’t
have Aadhaar cards.”
