The Pioneer 06.06.2013
Mayor assures slum kids to make city child-friendly
programme organised by Humara Bachpan, a national campaign on safe and
healthy physical environment for children living in urban poverty,
arranged an interaction of the slum kids with Bhubaneswar Mayor Ananta
Narayan Jena on different issues.
More than 100 children from 15 slums of the city had a dialogue with
Jena to make Bhubaneswar more child-friendly. Issues like improper
garbage cleaning, non-availability of dustbin, unsafe drinking water,
electricity woes, anti- social activities, safe housing, poor transport
system, hazardous roads and pathways, lack of public place for children
and zero ventilated housing were raised.
While answering different queries of the children, the Mayor assured
them to transform Bhubaneswar a child -friendly city with an improved
housing, sanitation, electricity, drinking water facilities and access
to basic services.
The Mayor pointed out different facilities available inside the slums
like ICDS, drinking water, parks and some other upcoming facilities. But
the children disagreed with him by raising issues of lack of access to
such facilities.
Jena promised to take necessary steps to consider the children a major
beneficiary in the urban development plans and policies by taking their
views into consideration. It is worth mentioning here that 10-15 per
cent child population in the State live in different slums with no
access to basic needs.
The total children without access to basic facilities stand at 7.6
million in the whole country. Starting from water, sanitation, housing,
air, soil, transport, public place and electricity to other aspects that
constitute physical environment in an urban poverty, children are
deprived of all amenities and basic needs.
These areas are now unsafe and unhealthy revealed by many studies and
reports. The current budgetary allocation and provisions in urban
policies like JnNURM, RAY and several others launched by the Housing and
Urban Department have ignored children as one of the beneficiaries. Humara Bachpan campaign is advocating for a change in such policies, said National Campaign coordinator Mihir Mohanty.
