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According to official figures, 40 babies are dumped on the roadside every year. But sources indicate that the actual figure could be much higher, with as many as 120 babies being abandoned annually.
Today, two abandoned newborns were brought to the 89, Eliot Road office of Achintya Bhattacharya, chairperson of Child Welfare Committee. From there, they were taken to “Sukanya”, a government-run children’s home. One of them, a two-day-old boy, was rescued by tourists on the beaches of Digha in the evening of March 23. The baby was taken to the Digha Subdivision Hospital. Deprived of any nourishment, the condition of the 2-kg baby was so critical that doctors had to feed him intravenously.
A few kilometers away in Brajalal Chak, another newborn boy was found dumped near a dustbin on March 11. Locals took him to the neighbouring Tamluk Hospital. The baby, who was around two weeks old, needed immediate medical treatment as well. Even the six-hour ambulance drive to Sukanya appeared to have drained them both.
“Since September, I have sent at least eight to Sukanya,” Bhattacharya said. “The baby girl who was dumped in a taxi near Gariahat was adopted by MP Adhir Chaudhury in September,” she added. But what worries the authorities now is yet another problem: adoption of healthy children is smooth sailing, but no one wants the mentally-challenged babies.
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