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.
Other contract staff of the State Child Protection Society too provided invaluable services such as disburse maintenance fund for children in child-care institutions, make enquiries and rehabilitation plans to reunite children with their families, provide counselling reports, home study reports, social investigation report, and so on for POCSO survivors, children in need of care and protection, children in conflict with law, those suited for adoption and foster care, prepare individual child care plans, and much more.
If the strike dragged on, all such services would get affected, and the safety of children, within child-care institutions and outside, would be at risk.
The employees said they were not asking for an increase in their pay but merely its restoration. Some of them have seen their salary slashed by nearly 40% since September. Moreover, their contracts had not been renewed even though it was June. They had applied for contract extension by December end or beginning of January to avoid any delays, but to no avail. As a result, those wanted to apply for even maternity leave were unable to do so. Without contract extension, they were forced to work on daily wages. An employee getting around ₹20,000 earlier would get half of it, that too divided on daily basis. This came to less than even minimum wages and not what their contracts specified, they said.
