‘Help within 30 minutes’: Delhi child rights body launches ten emergency response vehicles

“The helpline was started but there were no vehicles for immediate help to those calling. The Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) has given five vans and five motorcycles which will ensure that help can be extended within 30 minutes to a child in distress,” said Health Minister Satyendar Jain, who is also the chairperson of DSIIDC, at the inauguration.

Last April, the child rights commission instituted a helpline for quick access to grievance redressal during the second wave of the pandemic and it reported that it had received 2.5 lakh calls on this helpline in the last year.

Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said that while this initiative was being undertaken through corporate social responsibility by the DSIIDC, the government should not wait to expand this. “We will move the proposal for every sub-division in Delhi to have a mobile unit for reaching out to children in distress,” he said.

The distress helpline response system will function from 9 am to 11 pm every day in its first phase and the plan is to extend it to a 24×7 service in its second phase.

“While all the government functionaries perform their duty when reached out to, a critical step is connecting these children with the relevant government bodies. What the children and their parents need is someone to be physically present with them and provide them with all the support that they need, when they are at their most vulnerable and helpless stage… The response team will be stationed across districts in Delhi to cater to children in need of help as instantly as possible,” read a statement by the DCPCR.