New Delhi, Dec 29: Girls of a shelter home in Delhi were allegedly abused by its staff, following which an FIR was registered by the police, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) said Friday.

During an inspection of shelter homes in Delhi on Thursday, the DCW members interacted with girls aged 6-15 to understand their experience of residing at a shelter home, a DCW statement said.

Some elder girls at a shelter home in Dwarka area alleged that the female staff put chilli powder in their private parts as punishment. They were also forced to have chilli powder, it said.

Any sort of defiant behaviour from the children would be met with "serious and grave punishment" because of which they had become submissive, it said.

The teenage girls were also forced to wash utensils and clothes, clean rooms and toilets, and perform other kitchen chores, as the home did not have adequate staff. There was only one cook in the home for the 22 girls and staff, and the quality of food was not good, the statement said.

The teenage girls complained that they were beaten with scales for not keeping their rooms clean and not listening to the staff. They were not permitted to go home during summer and winter vacations, it said

The committee members shared the allegations with DCW chief Swati Maliwal who immediately reached the home at 8 pm.

Maliwal immediately called the Dwarka deputy commissioner of police, who sent a team of senior officers to the home and recorded statements of the children. An FIR has been registered by the Delhi Police against the staff, the DCW said.

The DCW chairperson and the members of the expert committee stayed in the home till early morning, the statement said.

A team of DCW counsellors as well as police have been deputed in the home 24/7 to ensure the safety of the children. The DCW shall continue to monitor the condition of the shelter home, it added.

Earlier, the DCW had set up an expert committee in consultation with the Delhi government on shelter homes to inspect various private and government-run shelter homes and give suggestions for their improvement.

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New Delhi, Nov 21: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday launched the Karnataka Milk Federation's (KMF) Nandini brand milk products in the Delhi-NCR market, pricing them marginally lower than competitors to gain a foothold in the region.

The cooperative will retail four cow milk variants, curd, and buttermilk from Friday, with competitive pricing that undercuts established players like Mother Dairy and Amul.

Cow milk will be sold at Rs 56 per litre, full Cream Milk at Rs 67 per litre, Standardised Milk at Rs 61 per litre, Toned Milk at Rs 55 per litre, and curd at Rs 74 per kg.

"We have surplus milk in the state. KMF along with Mandya Milk Union will market surplus milk of 3-4 lakh litres per day in Delhi-NCR," Siddaramaiah told reporters after launching the products.

The federation currently collects 100 lakh litres of milk daily, with local consumption at 60 lakh litres, leaving a surplus of 40 lakh litres for expansion into new markets.

However, the Chief Minister acknowledged the challenges of transporting milk over 2,500 km, which takes 50-54 hours.

There is a need to find new markets for surplus milk and gradually the KMF should be able to sell 5-6 lakh litres per day in Delhi-NCR, he added.

KMF Chairman LBP Bheemanaik assured that milk quality would be maintained during transit.

The federation has already partnered with 40 dealers in the Delhi-NCR region to facilitate sales, he added.

With a robust infrastructure of 26.76 lakh milk producers, 15,737 dairy cooperative societies, and 15 district milk unions, KMF has a turnover of Rs 25,000 crore and exports dairy products to over 25 countries.

State Animal Husbandry Minister K Venkatesh and Agriculture Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy were present at the product launch.