As the indefinite agitation launched by staff of the State Child Protection Society under the Women and Child Development department entered the third day on Saturday, child protection services are in danger of being thrown into a disarray.
At a child welfare committee office on Friday, there were a number of people waiting their turn, but inside the members were struggling without the lone data entry operator assigned to them. The situation was similar in other district child welfare committees and juvenile justice boards.
CWC members said they needed multiple hands, but had only person for data entry who also performed other office jobs. With those too going on strike in protest against slashing of their salary and non-renewal of contracts on time, they were finding it tough to manage the CWC operations. Even an e-mail could not be sent. Not only did the data operators first meet those reaching the CWC, they created files, located old files, remembered case details, helped with procedures related to placement or counselling of children, filed status reports, handled all communication, and were the last to leave work. This was all owing to their years of experience.
