The police were startled when they rescued about 16,400 children, including a hundreds of girls, during the four-day ‘Operation Muskaan’ in the State.
Officials of Education, Women and Child Welfare, Juvenile Welfare, Police and other departments, some NGOs and Child Welfare Committees (CWCs), participated in the drive.
Speaking to The Hindu on Tuesday, Director-General of Police (DGP) D. Gautam Sawang said this was the highest number of children rescued during the operation taken up as part of Police Commemoration Day.
“More than 50 teams, headed by Additional SPs, DSPs and CIs, have been constituted in the State. The Range DIGs, Police Commissioners and Superintendents of Police rescued the children. The police officers were shocked with the huge number of children working in different establishment and under hazardous conditions,” Mr. Sawang said.
About 2,500 girls and equal number of children belonging to Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Telangana, Bihar and other States were rescued during the special drive.
“The rescued children were tested for COVID-19, provided food and clothes. Majority of them were handed over to their parents after providing counselling,” said West Godavari district Superintendent of Police K. Narayan Naik.
“Children were working in industries, shops, agriculture fields, restaurants and hotels. Some were rescued from begging in bus and railway stations and other public places,” said Guntur (Urban) SP R.N. Ammireddy.
Eluru Range DIG K.V. Mohan Rao warned that cases would be booked against those who engaged children for work. They were handed over to their parents after following the legal procedure.
West Godavari District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) Ch. Surya Chakraveni said that counselling had been given to the parents and they were told to admit their children in schools. “The Labour Welfare and the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) departments are running special schools for children. We request the parents to educate their wards and not to spoil their lives,” said M. Ravindranath Babu, SP, Krishna district.
“In the sixth phase of ‘Operation Muskaan’, officials rescued 4,800 children and this time about 16,400 children were repatriated with their families, which is the highest in the country,” Mr. Sawang added.