JAMMU, DECEMBER 20 (KNS): The Administrative Council (AC) which met here under the chairmanship of the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, accorded its approval to Rehabilitation Policy for Children in Street Situation (CiSS) to safeguard these kids from different hazards.

Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lieutenant Governor, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary, J&K attended the meeting.

As per the canons of Juvenile Justice Act, Children in Street Situations (CiSS) fall under the category of children in need of care & protection. The Act further empowers the government to frame a policy for rehabilitation of such children in distress.

Earlier the Social Welfare Department through MD, ICPS (now Mission Vatsalya) carried out an exercise for identification of such CiSS and so far 687 such children have been identified.

As per the policy, Health, School Education, H&UDD, RDD, Home, Labour and Employment departments have been assigned specific roles and responsibilities for  ensuring proper implementation of the said policy in letter and spirit. The same would be monitored by a Committee headed by Chief Secretary to review its implementation in the UT.

Further, the Social welfare Department shall be responsible for regular monitoring of the implementation of the policy to protect and safeguard the future of all such children found across length and breadth of J&K.(KNS)