VIJAYAWADA: As many 2,774 street children, including child labourers, were rescued across the State under Operation Muskaan on Wednesday.
After Director General of Police (DGP) Gautam Sawang issued orders to all district Superintendents of Police (SPs) to find out missing children across the State, the police formed 794 teams under ‘Operation Muskaan’ and conducted rescue operations in coordination with ChildLine, Child Welfare Committee (CWC), and District Child Protection departments at all railway stations, bus stations, parks, hotels and rescued orphans and children who fled from their homes.
During the operation, a total of 2,774 children were rescued of which 2378 are boys and the rest are girls. While a few children were reunited with their family members, others were sent to child care centres for further course of action.
In Krishna district alone, around 334 children were rescued out of which around 100 belong to Vijayawada. “We not only rescued children but also registered cases against shop owners who employed minors,” said Krishna SP M Ravindranath Babu. He further conducted a counselling session for the parents of rescued children and instructed them to admit their children in government schools.