Speakers at the one-day workshop held at District Collectorate here on Saturday called for coordinated efforts among the judiciary, police, revenue, medical and health departments to tackle the violation of the PC PNDT Act 1994 (Pre-conception & Prenatal Diagnostic Technique Act).
The workshop titled ‘Effective implementation of the PC PNDT Act 1994’ was organized by the medical and health department.
Principal District Judge A.V. Raveendra Babu said legal system had taken note of foeticide, a heinous crime against humanity. “The coordinated efforts start from stricter adherence to the rudiments such as registration, functioning and maintenance of the scanning centres, and there should be regular inspection of the records and addressing of the complaints against violations. The most important thing is that the officials should insist on the services of the radiologists and gynaecologists at the centres,” he said.
Collector Narayana Bharat Gupta said as per records, there were 934 girls for 1,000 boys in the age group of 0-6, which projected a severe discrepancy in the ratio. He observed that this trend would only lead to adverse phenomenon in future.
SP Senthil Kumar said that any violations of the Act would be taken to task and criminal cases would be filed against the defaulters. Talking on how public could do their bit in curtailing the menace, the SP said one should pass on the information if they come across any centre violating the Act.
District Medical and Health Officer (DMHO) M. Penchalaiah said that the special teams meant for conducting regular inspections of the ultra sound scanning centres should register all complaints promptly and initiate punitive measures against the violators in coordination with the police and judicial officers.
