NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday issued an advisory to all the states and the Union Territories urging them to take cognisance of the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable groups of society.
The advisory asked states to immediately initiate measures to provide support and assistance to women, senior citizens, scheduled castes/scheduled tribes, and particularly children who have been orphaned due to the pandemic.
The MHA asked states to put in place institutional mechanisms to keep a close watch on incidences of human trafficking.
The advisory, which was undersigned by Pawan Mehta, Deputy Secretary, Women Safety Division of the MHA, also drew attention to the funds received by the states and the UTs to put the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in place.
“In order to facilitate implementation of the above guidelines, attention is drawn to Rs. 107.49 crores released to States/UTs for setting up or strengthening Women Help Desks in Police Stations” the MHA said, adding that it was also mandated that Women Help Desks have lawyers, psychologists and NGOs in order to assist victims, who seek support and rehabilitation.
The guidelines also mentioned protocols about inter-state communication and reporting missing and found persons.
“The states/UTs have been enabled through the provision of several IT modules by the NCRB including Cri-MAC for police to share information of inter-state relevance and a National Alert Service for Police on missing and found persons using CCTNS,” it said.
The advisory said that a sum of Rs 100 crore had specifically been allocated to the States and the UTs for the eradication of human trafficking.
The funding has been released as grants in order to strengthen or set up Anti-Human Trafficking Units or AHTUs.
“These AHTUs would be integrated task forces consisting of police, and other lines departments dealing with prevention and combating trafficking,” the MHA said.