ITANAGAR, 12 Jun: The women & child development (WCD) department, in collaboration with Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala)-based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), conducted a three-day training programme here on ‘Automation and integration of Child Helpline-1098, Women Helpline-181 and emergency response support system (ERSS)-112 on 7, 10 and 12 June.
The programme comprised theory and hands-on sessions for the call takers of the WCD control room (WCD-CR), the Child Helpline, the district child protection unit (DCPU) and the one-stop centres, and officials of the WCD department, the State Child Protection Society, and the State Hub for Empowerment of Women.
“As per Mission Vatsalya guidelines of the union WCD ministry, the WCD department is to execute a 24/7 helpline service for children, in coordination with state and district functionaries, which will be integrated with the ERSS-112 helplines of the union home affairs ministry,” the department informed in a release, adding that “100 percent fund is provided by the central government for implementing the Child Helpline in the state.”
Arunachal Pradesh, it said, is one of the first 10 states/UTs selected by the union WCD ministry in the first phase to operationalise the WCD-CR.
The WCD department has set up the WCD-CR in Itanagar, with technical support from the C-DAC, and a trial run has also been conducted successfully, it said.
“The Child Helpline at the level of the DCPU is also to be set up shortly in all the districts,” it added.
Once they are made operational, the WCD-CR, the CHL and the DCPU will be providing 24/7 helpline service for children across the state, and will attend to any kind of emergency, non-emergency and information calls made by children, or by any person on behalf of children.
“Till date, Childline services were available only in Itanagar, Namsai and Roing, which were run by the partner NGOs of Childline India Foundation,” the department said.
