A delegation of Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights visited Halmira tea estate, the epicentre of the worst-ever hooch tragedy in Assam, in Golaghat district on Wednesday and met children who have lost their parents.

The team comprised commission chairperson Sunita Changkakati, members Pilu Hazarika and Rupa Hazarika and technical consultant Rajiv Kumar Jha. It was accompanied by the district child welfare committee (CWC) and child protection unit, the district magistrate and the garden management.

The delegates urged Golaghat deputy commissioner Dhiren Hazarika to ensure that the Rs 2 lakh ex gratia announced by the government does not fall into wrong hands. They urged him to open bank accounts in the name of the orphans and credit the compensation only in these accounts.

The commission organised meetings in the Halmira and Gulam Patty areas of the garden and urged guardians to immediately seek permission from the district child welfare committee for taking charge of the orphans. “Permission will be given only after proper scrutiny and background-check, including financial status, of the guardian. Otherwise, there may be a possibility of these children being engaged as child labourers because the guardians themselves hail from economically underprivileged section,” Lukumoni Goswami, chairperson of Golaghat CWC told The Telegraph.

“We will wait for a certain period and if nobody seeks permission our employees will make field visits and we will take the orphans under our wing. We will also initiate penal action, under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, against guardians who took charge of the orphans without permission,” Goswami said.

The Golaghat CWC has identified 34 hooch tragedy orphans, aged between a few months to 16 years.