Hyderabad, June 28: Government has made it mandatory for all institutions working for welfare and care of women and children to obtain licence under the Women and Children’s Institutions (Licensing) Act, 1956.
It has formulated a new set of State Rules under the Act and a website for ‘Missing and Found persons’ which were released by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy here on Monday.
Rules necessary
Minister for Woman Development and Child Welfare (WD&CD) Sunitha Laxma Reddy said that the rules were provided to strengthen the Act and prevent abuse and exploitation of women and children.
The rules would bring all institutions related to care, protection and welfare of women and children in the State under the Licensing Act and ensure that they adhered to instructions, guidelines and minimum standards.
Collect information
She said about 1,500 NGOs were running such institutions in the State and the licence stipulation would help the government have all the information about the inmates.
The District Collector and Superintendent of Police would sanction the licence.
The Chief Minister said that apart from insisting on licence, the department should seek a report from the institutions once in four months for better monitoring.
Appreciating the website on missing persons which was a joint effort by the WD&CD and the police department, Mr. Kiran Kumar said that about 8,000 to 9,000 children were going missing and only 70 per cent of them were being traced.
The website would help in keeping track of women and children reported missing.
—Agencies