Operation Smile-9 starts to rescue missing children, bonded children in Warangal

DCPO Gade Mahender Reddy said 121 children were rescued in January 2022 in Warangal district under Operation Smile

Warangal: Officials of the Warangal Police Commissionerate, Child Welfare, Child Protection and other departments including non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have set out on a special drive to rescue children as part of the ninth phase of the Operation Smile programme.

As part of Operation Smile, child labourers, runaway children and bonded child labour are identified at bus stations, railway stations, construction sites, hazardous industries and some other places. Cases will be booked against those who employ child labourers under the age of 18. Missing and runaway children are also identified and are reunited with their parents.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (City Crime Record Bureau) Prathap Kumar, who held a meeting with officials on Monday, explained the steps to be taken to rescue the children. The police have formed two teams at the division level in each district under the Warangal Police Commissionerate limits. A sub-inspector will lead each team.

Meanwhile, Hanamkonda District Child Protection Officer (DCPO) P Santosh Kumar said they had rescued 2173 children in the district in the last five years under Operation Smile and Operation Muskan.

Warangal DCPO Gade Mahender Reddy said 121 children were rescued in January 2022 in Warangal district under Operation Smile. “While 100 of them were child labour, the remaining included runaway children and children in begging. During Operation Muskan held in July 2022, 96 children were rescued in Warangal district,” he added.

”615 kids were rescued from child labour and slavery during Operation Smile-7 in the erstwhile Warangal district,” said former chairperson of the Child Welfare Committee, erstwhile Warangal, Mandala Parashuramulu.

Majority of the child labourers rescued in the erstwhile Warangal district were from Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra States, according to officials. Many of them were working in brick kiln units scattered across the erstwhile Warangal district.