The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has launched one of its kind initiative to provide health, education and nutrition to kids living on the streets through a child-friendly mobile bus.
This is the first such bus in the state, launched by the women and child welfare department.
The project was inaugurated by Thane collector Ashok Shingare. Additional collector Manisha Jaybhaye was also present at the inauguration of the project, for which the central government has sanctioned ₹50 lakhs.
Madhukar Gaikwad, head of the woman and child welfare department, said that Thane was the precursor in the project because the department had already done a street survey in January 2022 and had collected data from 1,936 children.
What are its features?
The bus has a seating capacity of 25, and will ply in six different locations across Thane.
Such buses will also be operated in Pune, Nagpur, Nashik and Mumbai in future.
It will have a staff of four – a preacher, a teacher, a driver and a caretaker – to look after the kids.
The buses have CCTV and a location tracker system to ensure that the children are safe.
They will run in pockets where kids live on the street and under bridges in the Kalwa, Mumbra, Bhiwandi and Navi Mumbai areas.
Children would be given informal education in the moving bus. Later, based on their capability, they will be sent to regular schools.
Apart from this, their medical check-ups will be done and appropriate nutrition provided through food and medicine.
The civic body will also focus on helping the kids’ mothers in preparing documents and getting jobs.
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