Covid orphans 12 children in Aurangabad, 231 lost one parent

AURANGABAD: The pandemic has caused irreparable loss to as many as 12 children below the age of 18 years in the Aurangabad district as they have lost both parents to Covid-19. The district has another 231 children who have lost either their father or mother to Covid-19.
The taskforce formed for the benefit of Covid-affected children has come out with these figures. The number is expected to rise as the process of compilation of data is still on.
Aurangabad district women and child development officer Harsha Deshmukh on Tuesday said the data is being compiled by the taskforce with help from different government authorities. “Different self-governing bodies and state-run and private hospitals have been contacted to trace such children. The database will be submitted to the state government for necessary action,” she said.
Deshmukh said the state government is expected to declare relief and rehabilitation measures for such children. “There is a need to offer immediate relief to these children and chalk out welfare measures for their rehabilitation. To begin with, the government has reached out to these children through the taskforce and is expected to declare a slew of measures for them,” she said.
The district administration has also set up helpline numbers 1098, 7400015518, 8308992222, 9370003517 for Covid-hit children.
Anuradha Sahasrabudhe, the founder of Dnyana Devi Pune ChildLine, said the taskforce should join hands with NGOs. “These children are facing a high degree of trauma. The government has to deal with such children case-by-case with help of NGOs in order to ensure their emotional well being and protection of different rights,” she said, adding that the taskforce's future road map must be announced at the earliest.