VIJAYAWADA: Stating that 70 percent of children, who were rescued under phase 3 of Operation Muskaan conducted from October 28 to November 3 across the 13 districts in the State, have become child labourers due to poverty, Director General of Police (DGP) D Gautam Sawang said the police department is planning to build a rehabilitation mechanism to reduce recidivism and wipe out the scourge of child labour in the State using the welfare programmes and schemes introduced by the government.
In an interaction with Home Minister Mekathoti Sucharitha, police officials and representatives of Women and Child Welfare, Child Line, Child Welfare Committees, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) and International Justice Mission through a webinar held at the Police Headquarters in Mangalagiri on Tuesday, the DGP said a total of 25,298 children were rescued in 2020 under Operation Muskaan which was held in three phases - January, July and October. He said all the children were reunited with their parents and orphans were handed over to child care homes. He said that the police rescued 16,457 children during the phase 3 of Operation Muskaan which is the highest when compared to earlier operations.
“As part of the Operation Muskaan, police conducted checks at shops, hotels, dhabas, market yards, railway stations, bus stations and other places where there is a possibility of children being employed. We have spread across the State and reached every corner to make sure that all the children are rescued,” the DGP explained.
Sawang said that the police department has plans to take Operation Muskaan to the next level by enrolling all the rescued children in government schemes like Jagannana Vidya Kanuka, Ammavodi and Vasathi Deevena. “Not just rescuing, we, police, are going to take that extra burden on our shoulders to ensure that every child in the State goes to school. Government launched a plethora of schemes targeting children and poor families so that they can pursue their dreams. There is a huge need to put them (runaway children, orphans and child labourers) on track by bringing them to the mainstream. For that, we are using government schemes introduced for children with the help of the Women and Child Welfare department,” the DGP maintained.
Sawang interacted with the four rescued children through video conference and advised them to continue their education. He also appreciated the efforts of various line departments and NGOs working selflessly on ground.
“During our observation in the third operation, we found that 60 per cent of the rescued children completed primary education and 76 per cent are above 11 years. Of the total, 53 per cent of them are working as daily workers in hotels and other places and as rag-pickers. While 70 per cent of them are working due to poverty, nine per cent due to ‘no parental care’ and 21 per cent due to family issues,” he observed.
Police are chalking out various strategies such as designing a web application to maintain a database of the rescued children, vulnerability mapping, adoption of high-risk children and others to protect children from vulnerable conditions and to ensure that they continue their education, he added.
