NAROWAL: Deputy Commissioner Shahrukh Niazi on Thursday paid a surprise visit to the Model Children’s Home and took action against 12 officials for negligence and missing facilities, including closure of the kitchen.

He took a strict notice of the negligence of the deputy director Social Welfare Narowal for missing basic facilities and issued orders to send a charge sheet against him to the secretary of his department.

During a surprise visit on Thursday, he found the children getting ready to go to their educational institutions without having breakfast while the kitchen of the home was closed.

The DC met the destitute children and asked them about the problems they were facing. He asked the children about the availability of living rooms, beds and hot water.

He found out that the children had been given 10 years old beds, the windows of the living rooms were broken while hot water was missing.

However, the senior citizens living in the old people’s home gave an all-good report to DC.

A senior citizen, on condition of anonymity, told Dawn if anybody had complained to the DC about any issue, he/she would have been expelled from the old people’s home. He said an elderly citizen had already been expelled from the home.

Ali Raza, the district officer of the Social Welfare Department, Narowal, said the DC was not aware of the matter, adding that the post of deputy director was vacant for the last 10 days and no one was holding the charge.

Mr Raza claimed that the official timing of the shelter home all over Pakistan was 6pm to 8am.

He said the DC made a surprise visit to the shelter home established at the DHQ Hospital during the off time and took action against 12 employees, including the caretaker.

The district officer said they had got new bed sheets for shelter homes but repair work had started in Model Children’s Home and new bed sheets would be provided to the children after the work would be completed. About the broken windows of the rooms, he claimed the building department had been told about it several times but it did not install the windows. He insisted that the children’s home had hot water facilities for baths.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2022