Operation Smile: 615 child labourers rescued in Warangal

WARANGAL: As many as 615 child labourers were rescued as part of Operation Smile service in the erstwhile Warangal district. Operation Smile, a programme to rescue children from bonded labour, has been running successfully in the Northern Telangana districts. 

Every year, Operation Smile is carried out in January and Operation Muskan in July in the State, in coordination with the Central government and all the State’s police departments. As part of Operation Smile conducted with the  collaboration of the departments of Women and Child Welfare, Child Protection and Labour, Childline 1098 and Police departments, child labourers are identified at bus stands, railway stations, construction sites in hazardous industries and some other busy places. The Ministry of Labour has registered cases against those who employ child labourers under the age of 18. A part of the operation, missing children are identified, and with protection accorded for their rights, they are handed over to their parents.   

Children who were found working in the erstwhile Warangal district have been identified as belonging to Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Maharashtra, said Child Welfare officials.   Speaking to media, Chairperson, Child Welfare Committee of erstwhile Warangal district,   Mandala Parashuramulu  said the Central and State governments were constantly monitoring child protection officers, Childline 1098 personnel, Labour and Education department officials and the Police department on a regular basis.  

In addition, he said the Union Ministry of Labour would set up vocational training centres under the supervision of a District Collector in each district. The centres will provide training for uneducated persons in the age group of 15-18. The children would be given training in subjects of their choice, said Parashuramulu. He further said that KCR was implementing a number of welfare schemes with a special focus on making Telangana free of child labour. “We urge the CM KCR  to set up vocational training centres for those between the ages of 15 and 18 in each district,” he said.