CUTTACK: With an intention to trace and rescue children missing from Odisha and rehabilitate them, a fresh round of operation, ‘Muskan-3’ will be launched from Saturday. The special operation is a joint initiative undertaken by Crime Branch of Odisha Police, Labour and Women and Child Development (WCD) department.
The drive, which is part of a country-wide campaign undertaken by Ministry of Home Affairs, will be conducted for one month in two phases between July 15 and August 13, said Special DG, CID (CB), BK Sharma.
In the first phase, search operation will be conducted within the State from July 15 to 29 and phase two, special teams will conduct searches outside the State from July 30 to August 13.
As many as eight special teams have been formed at each police range level and they will move to eight targeted states in search of missing children of Odisha, Sharma told. “We will identify the states where there is a possibility of missing children being kept and send the teams for rescue operation,” he said. The Crime Branch will also include, associate and make networking with civil societies, NGOs, community leaders and social activists for collecting information on missing children, Sharma added.
After rescuing the children, the operation will also emphasise on rehabilitating them, Sharma added. “The officials of WCD will make an effort in rehabilitating the rescued children with proper counselling in consultation with their parents, family members or guardians,” he said, adding that those having no family would be rehabilitated in Children Homes.As per official records, as many as 1958 children have gone missing from 2013 to 2017, he said and added that the figure may be higher unofficially.