Girl child at receiving end

In spite of the large scale propaganda taken up by various government and non-government agencies, the fate of girl child has not changed much. More and more parents have been leaving their newly born girl children at the Shishu Vihar, the government-run child care centre here.

This year alone so far as many as seven girl children were left on the doorsteps of Shishu Vihar, which welcomes these children with an open heart. Most of these parents hope for a baby boy and get disappointed after the girl child was born. They brought the girl child to the Shishu Vihar stating that they were not in a position to bring them up. There are others who leave girl children in bus stations or in the garbage cans.

Presently, the Shishu Vihar houses sixteen children out of which fourteen are girl children. During the last three years, more than 130 girl children were left in the Shishu Vihar, according to Indira, project director of Woman and Child Welfare department.

Looking at the brighter side, the parents, who used to kill the girl children clandestinely, are now openly handing them over to the officers of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) stating that they are unable to bring them up. Ravi and Kamsi of Tamidikunta Tanda of Midjil mandal, who already have four girl children wanted a baby boy but delivered a girl child, handed her over to the ICDS officials. Likewise, Islavat Sunita and Gopal of Veluguralla Tanda in Amangallu mandal have also handed over their fourth child to the officials as the child was girl. A couple from Govindayapalli of the same mandal has also left their girl child with the officials. Sabhavat Saroja and Mohan have also handed over their third child to the officials.

All these parents wanted to have a baby boy but they got girl children. For no fault of theirs, these girl children are becoming orphans. Most of these parents say that it would be very expensive to bring them up. But they do not answer to the query whether it was not expensive if it was baby boy, says Chandrasekhar, chairman of the district child welfare committee.