West Bengal government to set up panel against trafficking

Kolkata: The state home department issued a notification on constitution of an eight-member committee comprising administrative and political representatives to keep a vigil on private hospitals and NGOs to curb child trafficking in the state.

The new committee will be headed by state parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee and includes Leader of Opposition Abdul Mannan and Left Front legislature party leader Sujan Chakraborty as members.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, on the first day of the Assembly session on December 5, had announced the formation of a committee that would randomly inspect private nursing homes and NGOs in the state. State home secretary Moloy De will be the convener of the committee.

While state health secretary, secretary of women and child development department, director general of police Surajit Kar Purkayastha and Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar are the members of the committee.

The government’s notification issued in this regard states that the committee will meet once every three months and will monitor and advise the government on issues of child trafficking.

Nearly two dozen people, including doctors, have been arrested by the criminal investigation department (CID) in connection with several rackets that it had busted last month.

The sleuths had rescued three children, including a baby girl, from South 24 Parganas district, while 10 newborn girls were rescued from a Kolkata-based old age home during the course of investigation.

The notification, however, created a controversy in the state Assembly when Mr Mannan pointed out to Speaker Biman Banerjee that the CM had earlier announced that the chief secretary would be the convenor of committee.

“She had said this on record. But the notification now says that additional chief secretary, home and home secretary, is the convenor of the committee,” he said. Mr Chatterjee told him that the matter would be looked into.