NEW DELHI: In a damning report against the city government's social welfare department, Delhi Commission for Women has said 11 patients died at the Asha Kiran home for the mentally challenged in the past two months. During an inspection, DCW said it found women inmates walking about naked in the corridors.The surprise inspection was conducted by DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal on Saturday night. Maliwal said she found severely unsanitary conditions and overcrowding at the home. Patients were being exploited and made to do the personal work of staffers, she said.DCW has issued a notice to the social welfare department secretary and has set up a separate inquiry committee to look into complaints against the home. A report will be submitted to the government.“I, along with other mem bers of the commission, went for a surprise inspection of the home and ended up spending the night there. Among other things, we found the home was overcrowded, with up to four persons occupying one bed.Women were being made to remove their clothes in the open while lining up to take a bath,“ Maliwal told TOI.“Shockingly , nude women were roaming around in the corridors even as there are CCTV cameras installed there which are being monitored by male staff,“ she said.This is not the first time that such complaints against the home have been highlighted, specifically about overcrowding. In 2010, the Delhi high court had asked the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to look into various violations at the home.Maliwal said the toilets at the home were stinking and extremely filthy . There was excreta and urine in the corridor. Even the rooms were stinking, she added, as residents were relieving themselves there and no one was cleaning up the mess. Our work is to immediately rectify the situation and build accountability into the system. We need to find out what the staff has been doing in the light of the deaths of inmates and miserable conditions at the home. I am extremely disturbed with what I have seen and have asked the secretary of the social welfare department for a response to the notice within 72 hours,“ Maliwal said.The team also found that there was a massive shortage of staff, with just one `house aunty' deputed to look after 153 residents in one dormitory. The report said that mentally challenged residents were being made to sweep, clean clothes and assist in daily chores. In cottage No.1, the commission saw a staffer getting her legs pressed by a mentally challenged resident.“We saw no wheelchairs were being used. Women and children were crawling on the floor, unattended, while going to the toilets. There is no clinical psychologist at the home and only one psychiatrist visits the place twice a week for a few hours. Several posts of doctors are also vacant,“ said Maliwal.“There was also no guard stationed at the entrance of the women's wing and we were able to walk inside unchecked,“ she added.The social welfare department couldn't be reached for comments. Meanwhile. BJP held the AAP government responsible for the death of the inmates at the home. Delhi BJP chief, Manoj Tiwari , al leged that the government was trying to evade responsibility and mislead the people.The party claimed that the social welfare department has been without a minister after Sandeep Kumar was sacked last year. Though deputy CM Manish Sisodia is looking after the department, there is no accountability.“DCW's notice in itself proves that the Kejriwal government is trying to evade responsibility ,“ said Tiwari.BJP demanded that the CM and deputy CM take responsibility for the deaths.