AAP government undid our work for mentally challenged: Congress

5 Dariya News

New Delhi , 06 Feb 2017

A Congress leader on Monday flayed the Social Welfare Department of the Delhi government over the working of care homes for mentally challenged people in the national capital."All the good work of the previous Congress government has been undone by the AAP government. Five 'halfway homes' -- including one in Dwarka and two in Rohini -- were built by 2013 during my three years as minister to house the mentally challenged people. Family members would leave the mentally challenged people at these homes in the morning and take them away by day-end," former Social Welfare Minister Kiran Walia told IANS. She said the building of Asha Kiran Home in Rohini was expanded and a number of its inmates shifted to a building in Narela for decongestion. The Asha Kiran Home is now in the news for the death of 11 inmates in the last two months.
"... but after 2013, these people (the current government) completely forgot about these buildings which are in disuse now. Even the Supreme Court had praised our efforts then," Walia said. Walia's comments came in the wake of a visit by Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chairperson Swati Maliwal to the Asha Kiran Home on Saturday, where she found inmates living in inhuman conditions. Maliwal submitted a stinging report to the Department of Social Welfare and sought an explanation by February 8. The report mentioned the death of 11 inmates in two months at Asha Kiran Home. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday expressed shock over the matter and ordered the Chief Secretary to file a report on the lapses that led to the deaths.