Gandhi Nagar (construction sites) - Follow up

I started the scan today from where We had left it on Friday-23rd April.

Aim:

a) To find out the Anganwadi & Balwadi near these construction sites.

b) To check the feasibility of enrollment for the children of the migrant construction workers.

Findings:

a) Anganwadi is available in Gandhi Nagar, withing 500 meters from these construction sites. This Anganwadi is being run in Gandhi Nagar - Shiv Sena sahkha. After discussing with families and people around the Anganwadi, I found out that there's no schedule and timing of this Anganwadi.

b) Availability of Primary School: A municipality primary school is present in both Marathi & Hindi medium (till 7th standard) within less than 1 Km of distance.

I interacted with Principal of the school and mentioned about the children at the construction sites and feasibility of their enrollment in new coming session from June. Her response was affirmative. She added that the only document needed for the enrollment is Birth Certificate.

I tried finding out condition of different initiatives like MidDay meal, free books presently running in schools. The Midday meal for all the municipality schools is cooked at Vartak Nagar municipality school premises and delivered to all schools.

Next Step:

a) To check availability of Birth Certificate of children.

b) Plan a enrollment drive in June for these Children.

Area Scan – Gandhi Nagar (construction sites)

Location	3 communities in Gandhi Nagar (Near Hiranandani Meadows and MMRDA construction sites)
Dwellers	Migrants construction site workers from Aasam, Bihar, UP, Maharashtra other parts of India
Volunteers	Divya, Sharmistha and Krishna
Approximate population of the locality:	20 – 30 families
Date:	4/21/2010
Time:	11:30 AM to 17:30 AM
Approximate area of the locality:	3 communities with less than 100 square meter area
Approximate population of the locality:	20-30 families each community
Ruling entity:	TMC
Concerned Government Official:	Not known
Source of water	Common tap
Time of water supply:	Not know
Frequency of water supply:	Not know
Anganwadi:	Not accessible
Balwadi:	Not accessible
Health Care Center:	No
Private Clinic	No
Public Toilets:	No
NO. for Ladies:	0
NO. for Gents:	0
Industries:	NA
Employment Options:	Daily wage construction workers
Child Labour:	Yes (At few construction sites (MMRDA site) Child labor was involved ), however developers such as Hiranandani follow No Child Labour policy at their construction site
NO. of Child Labours:	5-10
Type of work children seen doing:	We observed few children picking something from drainage and locality garbage bin. We asked them to take us to their families.
Possible reasons for school dropouts:	For most of these children at construction site access to school is not available. However few of the families are sending their children to near by private school. As per their parents these school (Deepa public school – 9892816220 & MG public school) are charging on an average 150-200 per month per student.
Problems observed:	Access to Anganwadi and Balwadi Illiterate and hesitant parents Building developer not paying any attention towards workers children Access to municipality schools Hygiene- drainage system was bad in these localities, children were seen playing in and near dry sewage.
Known schemes/policies of government related to the issues observed:	Nil
Level of the awareness in the community about various government initiatives:	Nil
Comments:	· It seems building developers thinks that their responsibility ends just by giving employment to these migrants workers or putting a sign at site that ‘Child labour prohibited’. The access to health care and schools for the children of construction workers should also be part of their responsibility. · In the families where both man and woman works, the eldest child is the care taker of the younger children. No matter whether the eldest child is 4 year old or 14 year old. · 90% of these workers wants to provide education to their children but don’t know how.

आख़िर कब तक...

रचयिता -- दिव्या

धूल में सनी किस्मत, इंट और कंक्रीट से लदे हम,

क्यूँ कुचल रही उमीदें, क्यूँ तोड़ रहे हौसले दम,

कब तक करना होगा उमीदो पर जीवन निर्वाह,

दर्द से भरी राते, करवाटोसे निकलती पल-पल आह,

भूखे बच्चों का दर्द देखना हो रहा असहनीय,

मंहगाई स्तिथि बनाती जा रही दयनीय,

पढ़ना तो दूर , दो वक़्त का खाना नही होता नसीब,

उधारी के बोझ तले दब्ता जा रहा ग़रीब,

साँसें चीख-चीख कर दे रही दुहाई,

बंद करो ये अत्याचार, कम करो मंहगाई,

क्यूँ नही सोचते हमारे विवस हालात को,

क्यूँ नही देखते भूख मे लिपटी हुई हर रात को,

क्यूँ नहीं पिघलता तुम्हारा मन,

इंसानियत ने क्यूँ तोड़ दिया दम,

क्यूँ होता है सिर्फ़ ग़रीब ही लाचार,

क्यूँ पड़ती है उसपर ही मंहगाई की ये मार|

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