Operation Smile: Cyberabad Police rescue 29 kids from streets

Hyderabad: Cyberabad Police’s ‘Operation Smile’ teams rescued 29 children, including five girls, from child labour, begging mafia, streets and from rag picking in November. Five cases were booked against those using children for labour, officials said. The Cyberabad Police had formed ‘Operation Smile’ teams in three zones to work throughout the year to rescue children […]

Hyderabad: Cyberabad Police’s ‘Operation Smile’ teams rescued 29 children, including five girls, from child labour, begging mafia, streets and from rag picking in November.

Five cases were booked against those using children for labour, officials said. The Cyberabad Police had formed ‘Operation Smile’ teams in three zones to work throughout the year to rescue children from child labour, begging, rag picking and to identify and rescue runaway and vulnerable children among others. According to officials, seven of the rescued boys were from other States. The other children, who were produced before the Child Welfare Committee and sent to various shelter homes in the city, were also being sent to school.

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It was found that children who work at bangle units and other micro industries were not provided sufficient food and clothes due to which their health was getting affected. “They were made to live in unhygienic conditions in small rooms without ventilation. The wages were also very less and not regular. Also, their working hours were long without breaks. All the minors were brought from various States, apart a few from Telangana,” an official said.

“Most of them were suffering from malnutrition, stunted growth and other health issues. These children were covered with fine dust from head to toe,” the official said, adding that in one case, three children from Jharkhand who were brought to the city promising good work and made to work in a bangle unit instead, were rescued from Mailardevpally.

In another instance, a 10-year-old boy was rescued at Gachibowli. He had run away from home after his father scolded him for not going regularly to school. In the third case, officials rescued two girls and a one-year-old boy from begging on the road in Dundigal.

“The teams search for vulnerable children aged below 14 years who are found on pavements, traffic junctions, working in tea stalls, dhabas, near religious places and micro industries,” an official said.

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