With the Delhi government coming under attack over the appalling conditions at the Asha Kiran Home for the mentally challenged, which is run by the Social Welfare Department, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday issued a stern letter to the chief secretary, asking him to fix responsibility and present a report on it by February 13.
“I am extremely disturbed by the prevailing conditions reported by the DCW (Delhi Commission for Women) and the media on the Asha Kiran Home,” Kejriwal wrote to Chief Secretary M.M. Kutty. He said Kutty should personally ensure that all these deficiencies are removed within a week to the satisfaction of the DCW.
The letter is being seen as an attempt to distance the AAP government from civil servants who are not perceived to be friendly towards it.
The DCW had in a surprise check found the living conditions at the Asha Kiran Home to be extremely miserable. Eleven inmates have died during the last two months. The DCW team, led by its chief Swati Maliwal, found serious over-crowding with up to four patients on a single bed, women inmates walking naked in the corridors, CCTV cameras being monitored by male staff, women inmates made to remove their clothes in the open while queuing up for bath, stinking rooms, excreta and urine in the corridors and filthy toilets.
“Chief secretary is to fix responsibility and present a report by 11.00 am on 13th February, 2017,” Kejriwal wrote.
He also asked Kutty to furnish a report on Monday itself on some specific points, such as how many times Secretary Social Welfare/Women and Child Development Dilraj Kaur visited Asha Kiran Home and other two homes for the mentally challenged in the past, the dates of the visit and the official's observations, why the official did not bring the deaths of inmates to the notice of the government, what steps she took when each death was brought to her notice and what steps she took to prevent these serious lapses.
It has to be noted that both Kutty and Kaur have found themselves to be dramatis personae in Kejriwal's battle with the Lt Governor's office. There is friction between the Kejriwal dispensation and Kutty, with ministers complaining that the chief secretary has been sending files directly to the LG's office. As for Kaur, Kejriwal had opposed her appointment as Member Secretary to the DCW.
