This order was passed on July 30 by the state chief information commissioner, Ratnakar Gaikwad, on an application made by Narvada Mishra.
The state information commission has asked the state government to provide information about all the money it has given to various NGOs that look after deprived children.
This order was passed on July 30 by the state chief information commissioner, Ratnakar Gaikwad, on an application made by Narvada Mishra. The applicant runs an NGO, 'Deprived Child! And You' for the last 22 years in the slums of Saki Naka.
The Union government in 2009 approved several NGOs' proposals for setting up new rehabilitation centres, which would provide education and medical aid under an integrated programme for children from streets or slums. This was to be done under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS). Later, all the funding given under the scheme was diverted to the state governments. The state governments were supposed to give the money to NGOs working for the welfare of children.
"Our project was one of them; the funds were diverted to the state government and through the state government, the funds were to be given to us," said Mishra, adding that his NGO is among those that was chosen by the UN for consultations about child welfare. Mishra said his NGO has an outlay of about Rs25 lakh annually.
Under ICPS, the Maharashtra government was given around Rs38 crore between 2009 and 2011. "This amount, the government claims, has been disbursed to all 692 NGO-run homes or institutions. Since we were one of them and we did not get any money, we asked them for the list of the 692 NGOs, along with money given to each, and the beneficiaries in each of them. But they did not give us any information," said Mishra. He also sought to know about the NGOs that were shut down, the reason for them being shut down, and the name of the public authority to be approached in case there is corruption in disbursement of the ICPS funds.
When the public information officer did not provide any information, the applicant filed a first appeal. The first appellate authority stated that the information that was not provided should be given, and if the state does not have the information, it should provide justification as to why not.
When he still did not get any information, the commission directed the child and welfare department to provide all the information by August 31, and send a compliance report to the commission.
Sanjay Kumar, secretary of the department, could not be contacted for comment.
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