Kejriwal orders probe into Asha Kiran home lapses; BJP, Congress attack

New Delhi, Feb 6: The deplorable conditions at the Asha Kiran Home for the mentally challenged where 11 inmates have died over the past two months saw the opposition BJP and Congress attack the AAP government on Monday even as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal ordered the Chief Secretary to file a report on the lapses.

The Bharatiya Jata Party (BJP) said that Kejriwal cannot escape “moral and legal responsibility for mismagement” of Asha Kiran Home by shifting responsibility to bureaucrats, while the Congress party said the Aam Aadmi Party government had “undone” its work for the mentally challenged.

In an official note to Delhi Chief Secretary M.M. Kutty, Kejriwal ordered him to file a report by February 13 and to “persolly ensure” that the situation is rectified within a week. Kejriwal’s directions came a day after Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chairperson Swati Maliwal paid a surprise visit to the Asha Kiran Home and found deplorable conditions that had led to the death of 11 inmates.

Maliwal noted over-crowding with up to four patients on a single bed, women inmates made to remove clothes in the open while queueing up for bath and walking ked in the corridors, and CCTV cameras being monitored by male staff. She also observed stinking rooms, filthy toilets and excreta and urine in the corridors. (IANS)