VIJAYAWADA: The State government has constituted special State and district-level monitoring committees to strengthen efforts to trace missing children and prevent human trafficking in the State, in compliance with the directions of the Supreme Court on Saturday.
The Women, Children, Differently Abled and Senior Citizens Welfare Department issued a government order in this regard.
According to the GO, the Principal Secretary or Secretary of the Women, Children, Differently Abled and Senior Citizens Welfare Department will head the committee as chairperson, while the DGP or Additional DGP (CID) will be its co-chairperson at the state level committees. The commissioner or director of Women Development and Child Welfare will act as member-convener.
The committee will also include representatives from the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU), Labour, School Education, Health, Social Welfare, Tribal Welfare, BC and Minority Welfare departments, State Legal Services Authority, Government Railway Police, Railway Protection Force and Cyber Crime/CCTNS wings, besides two NGO representatives.
At the district level, collectors will head the committees, with an SP rank officer as co-chairperson and the District Child Protection Officer as member-convener. Representatives of relevant departments and agencies will be members.
The committees will review missing children cases, FIR registration and investigation progress, identify trafficking-prone areas and strengthen surveillance in vulnerable villages and transport routes.
They will also monitor the identification and biometric verification of rescued children, rehabilitation and counselling, and ensure that rescued children are produced before Child Welfare Committees (CWCs). Family involvement in trafficking cases will receive special scrutiny.
The State committee will oversee digital tracking, CCTNS integration and inter-State coordination. District committees must submit monthly reports to the State-level committee and conduct awareness programmes at district and village levels.