Nalgonda: Superintendent of Police K Apoorva Rao on Saturday said 82 children were rescued in the district during a month-long drive as part of Operation Smile-IV.
Rao, in a media release on Saturday, said the Government has been implementing Operation Smile and Operation Muskan every year to identify and rescue children, who ran away from their homes, or were abandoned and went missing, apart from child labor.
Operation Smile-IV was conducted from January 1 to 31 in the district and officials of police, ICDS and Child Line. The police rescued 82 child labor and filed cases against 72 persons for engaging minors in the work in violation of the Child Rights Protection Act.
She warned that stringent action would be taken against those would engage children for work. Cases would be filed against the owners of brick kiln units, hotels, lodges and mineral water plants, if they engaged the children for work.