Women and children affairs minister Abu Zafar Md Zahid Hossain on Wednesday alleged that the fallen Awami League government had stopped expansion of One-Stop Crisis Centres undermining protection and rehabilitation efforts for women and children subjected to violence.

Addressing the second session of the 13th Jatiya Sangsad, the minister also claimed that staff members of emergency response call centres had gone unpaid for three years under the previous administrations.

The minister made the remarks while responding to a public importance notice raised by BNP-backed reserved-seat lawmaker Nipun Roy Chowdhury, who sought updated information on the effectiveness of services for survivors of violence and measures to strengthen support for women and children.

In reply, the minister said that One-Stop Crisis Centres had initially been established at eight government medical colleges and were later expanded to 15 facilities.

According to the minister, 81,928 survivors have so far received services through the centres. Of them, 49,767 were survivors of physical violence, 31,596 were survivors of sexual violence and 565 had experienced other forms of abuse.