Measures in place to identify agencies involved in trafficking, says Shashi Panja

Kolkata: Women and Child Development and Social Welfare minister Shashi Panja during her Budget speech in the Assembly said steps have taken to identify various placement agencies which are allegedly involved in trafficking.

She added that some placement agencies across the state are luring children and women with false promises. Initiatives have been taken to find them out.

Senior officials of the department have already held meetings with their counterparts in the state Labour department to check the incidents of human trafficking.

The Labour department will conduct a probe in assistance with the Women and Child Development and Social Welfare department to regulate the agencies.

A detailed investigation would be conducted to ascertain if these agencies involved in trafficking have any registration from the Labour department.

A state-level action plan has been chalked out to check the incidents of trafficking. The minister also pointed out that the task force which was formed earlier will not be able to check such incidents alone. It has to work in tandem with the police and the Border Security Force as otherwise it would be difficult to reduce the incidents of trafficking.

During her speech, she said that the budgetary allocation for the department has gone up by 6.6 percent. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has given great emphasis on the Women and Child Development and Social Welfare department and introduced many development schemes in order ensure a socio-economic upliftment for the people in the villages, Panja maintained.

She also pointed out that during the 2017-18 financial year, the budgetary allocation increased by 2.5 percent.

In the current financial year, there has been a total increase of Rs 5,524 crore for the department.

The sanctioned strength of the Anganwadi centres has been increased in the state and many are in the process of getting sanctions. A fund of Rs 61,067 crore has been allocated for the development of the Anganwadi centres.

Measures are being taken to modernise those centres so that children visiting the places can avail more facilities.

In some districts, there has been a delay in recruiting the staff members following litigation issues, the minister pointed out during her speech.

More number of supervisors and helpers are being recruited in the Anganwadi centres.