HYDERABAD: At least seven children, painted in silver and dressed as Gandhiji, complete with glasses and walking sticks, were rescued as they were begging for alms on the last day of Visarjan. The parents of the minors, who were aged between 12 and 14, had made them beg in a bid to make a quick buck during the festive season.
Officials of Childline-Divyadisha, who conducted the rescue operation, pointed to the flipside of the festivities and said that they had rescued about 20-25 such children over the last 10 days in Hyderabad alone. The main hotspots were Secunderabad and Khairatabad.
Most of their parents had migrated from Andhra Pradesh and other districts of Telangana, officials said. While most of the rescued children are sent to government homes in Hyderabad, the present batch of seven minors have been referred to the Vijayawada CWC.