The homes set up to cater to vulnerable groups like homeless children, elderly persons, mentally retarded persons, destitute women, beggars and leprosy affected persons in the national capital will now be monitored by the management committee.

The 26 homes under the departments of Social Welfare and Women & Child Development (WCD) has been providing food, clothing, bed, medical facilities, recreation facilities, vocational/skill training. Till now, they were being run departmentally by permanent staff and posted from services department.

The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting presided over by chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday. Dikshit said that in order to bring improvement in functioning of the homes there is a need for involvement of committed citizens who can guide, supervise, monitor running of these homes and facilitate improvement in overall functioning.

Management committees will be constituted in each of the 26 homes under the chairmanship of Dy. Commissioner (Revenue)/designated ADM. The superintendent of the concerned home will function as convener whereas District Medical Officer and District Social Welfare Officer will be nominated as official members.  There will be three non-official members from among the eminent citizens, social workers, NGO activists and civil society. However two of the three nominated non-official members should be preferably women.

Function of the management committees include improvement of infrastructure of homes, sanitation and general cleanliness, skill development/vocational training of inmates, review of health and nutritional status, recreation facilities, ensuring proper water supply and electricity, compliance of minimum standards of food, clothing, bedding, training & sensitization of staff, encourage modern management practices and use of IT, act as a Grievance Redressal Mechanism and employ persons in case of shortage of staff like cooks.

The committee will meet at least once a month and will also prepare a quarterly report on the recommendations made and action taken. The tenure of the committee will be a period of two years.