Shillong, Nov 28: Four short-listed names are with the social welfare department to be appointed as the new chairperson of the Meghalaya State Commission for Women (MSCW).
Social Welfare Minister Paul Lyngdoh on Tuesday told reporters that the department is still going through their profiles before the cabinet takes a decision on the matter.
“As I had informed you earlier, four names have reached us. We still are in the process of going through the profiles of those four persons because we would like to get the best possible person to lead the commission. “We should be ready to submit our recommendation in the next cabinet meeting,” Paul said.
Integration of helpline numbers
The minister said the government has decided to integrate the women helpline number 181 and child helpline 1098 to ensure round the clock service to attend to such distress calls.
The women helpline 181 received more than 36,000 SOS calls asking for protection from abuse and violence in Meghalaya.
“We received 36,362 calls as on date for which 477 cases have been registered, 158 cases are active and 304 are closed,” Paul said.
“The response has been not really bad considering that in a state where we generally tend to hide things and don’t go beyond the four walls of our house. The fact that 36,000 calls were made in the course of establishment since online service was activated shows that the response has been in fact high,” he said.
Dept to be strengthened
Paul chaired a review meeting on the implementation of the various schemes under the department.
The meeting has decided to construct 273 and upgrade over 2200 anganwadi centres across the state. Discussion also revolved around the need to appoint professionals in the department.
Paul said one of the major weaknesses of the department is the lack of professional hands to prepare detailed project reports (DPRs) and also to prepare utilization certificates (UCs) on time.
“Therefore, there is a felt need to engage professionals who can liaison with the ministries in Delhi to facilitate early and prompt clearance of the various schemes, which were stuck due to our inability to meet the timeline required,” he said.
According to Principal Secretary in-charge Social Welfare Sampath, problem arises as the social welfare department reports to five ministries of the Government of India that include Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Social Justice, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Minority Affairs and also sometimes DoNER.
“We have a small directorate. That is why strengthening of the directorate is going to happen. Directorate will be given some professional support so that it will be able to properly take up schemes with the ministry so that we are not losing out in terms of the resources, we can actually access.”he said.
