PUNE: Licences of 186 children’s homes in the state, including two from Pune district, were cancelled recently by the women and child development department for poor facilities , crowding and also poor maintenance. As many as 16,200 children lived in these homes that were found lacking on various counts during a recent survey carried out by the department.

Apart from the two homes in Pune district, one each from Thane and Raigad, Jalna and a majority from five districts in Marathwada region were among the homes whose licences were cancelled after the survey. There are 1,119 children’s homes across the state.

Officials said that there were irregularities in the functioning of these homes, apart from the fact that several facilities for children were found missing here. In addition, 40 other children’s homes in the districts of Nanded, Osmanabad, Parbhani, Latur and Beed were served show-cause notices after inspections found that these too had improper facilities in place for children sheltered here.

However, of the 186 homes, 105 were granted an interim stay by the Aurangabad high court. “The authorities of these homes claimed that they did not get enough opportunity to rectify the errors in their functioning. We have, however, given an affidavit stating that they had been given enough time—30 days as per the Juvenile Justice Act— to fix the lacunae in their infrastructure,” said an official. He added that the interim stay was extended recently till April 1, and the 105 homes are thus currently functioning.

Officials said there were several lacunae in the infrastructure of these homes. “Buildings in many cases were poorly maintained. Also, as per rules, every child in these homes should get at least 40 sq ft of area to stay in. Many of these homes however did not fulfill this norm. In several cases, as many as 10 children had access to only one bathroom or toilet, while inspections also revealed irregularities in provision of water, meals, uniforms, clothes, educational and health facilities,” the official said, adding that homes that had their licence cancelled in Pune district were based in Daund and Lonavla.

A 99-member squad was appointed by the women and child development department to undertake inspections of children’s homes in the districts of Nanded, Osmanabad, Parbhani, Latur and Beed in October 2012. “Forty children’s homes in these districts were functioning with irregularities and have thus been given show-cause notices to rectify the errors. These homes are first given a chance to fix the gaps in infrastructure and functioning and asked for an explanation with a 30-day period to fill the gaps,” he said.