Patna: After facing flak from all quarters for the sexual exploitation of girls at the temporary shelter home in Muzaffarpur, the social welfare department has tightened the screws.

On Friday, the department announced measures they had taken on the basis of a third party survey conducted by Tata Institute of Social Studies (TISS), Mumbai. The department noted grave charges made against the voluntary organisations running these shelter homes and also employees of these centres and announced the formation of a special cell, which would monitor the activities of 104 remand shelter homes for children.

These centres are run by the social welfare department, mainly through voluntary organisations. The department funds non-government organisations (NGOs). The TISS carried out the survey for six months before submitting a report to the department in Mumbai.

The department has since cracked the whip on the Sewa Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti, the NGO running the girl shelter home in Muzaffarpur. After reports of sexual exploitation of inmates, the department has transferred the girl children to other shelter homes in the state and lodged a case against the NGO under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act. It has also cancelled the allotment of other centres and an old-age home in Muzaffarpur run by the same NGO, and recommended its cancellation of registration and suspended the assistant director of the department who was posted there. It has issued showcause to all officials posted in child protection units since 2013.

However, the Muzaffarpur shelter home is not the only one under scrutiny. A child home run in Motihari also faces charges of physical and sexual abuse to the inmates. Similarly, an NGO-run temporary shelter home run by NGO in Kaimur also faces charges of a security guard sexually exploiting the inmates. The department has taken similar actions against the voluntary organisations and employees.

The TISS report has pointed towards inadequate infrastructure in most shelter homes. The department has reacted by suspending the superintendent of the child protection home in Munger, removing a guard in Araria, giving the job of running a new NGO.

It has asked shifting of some existing centres to new buildings and recruitment of adequate staff. The department is now talking about framing of rules and practices for the shelter homes in Bihar in the hope that such incidents would not be repeated in Bihar.