HYDERABAD: Amidst festive cheer and Ganesh celebrations, as many as 72 children were reported missing in the chaos and confusion around the Hussainsagar lake on Monday. However, they were rescued by help desk teams and handed over to their parents, Hyderabad district project director of the women and child welfare department said.
These figures of missing children cases were reported between Monday morning and evening, even before the main procession had arrived at the Tank Bund.
The women and child welfare department which set up two help desk counters — one at NTR marg and another at Tank Bund road — kept announcing the details of children through public announcement system all day long. The helpline numbers 9441102873 and 9959080490 were displayed along the two major roads.
According to officials at Women and Child Welfare Department counter, children who went missing were between the age group of 4 and 15 years. Many of them hailed from the districts too. “We had arranged for two desks for people to report cases of missing people. Each desk has six members,” said an official at the counter.
When 34 children were reported missing at the desk near NTR Gardens opposite crane number 4, 28 more were reported missing at the desk near Tank Bund. The list of missing people included 10 girls, including a couple of four-year-olds. “There were also 10 children who went missing in the age group of 6-8 years,” the official added. The counters will remain open until the wee hours of Tuesday.