Operation Smile: Cyberabad Police rescue 461 children in January

Hyderabad: The Cyberabad Police rescued 461 children including 81 girls in January under the ‘Operation Smile – VIII’ drive conducted across the commissionerate. As per instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs, the police had formed nine Operation Smile teams in the three zones which work throughout the year to rescue children from child labour, […]

Hyderabad: The Cyberabad Police rescued 461 children including 81 girls in January under the ‘Operation Smile – VIII’ drive conducted across the commissionerate.

As per instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs, the police had formed nine Operation Smile teams in the three zones which work throughout the year to rescue children from child labour, begging, rag-picking, etc. In the drive conducted from January 1 to 31, 214 children from Telangana and 247 children from other States across the country were rescued.

According to the police, of the children rescued, while some were sent to rescue homes, others were handed over to their parents. Of the 461 children, 422 were rescued from child labour, 22 from begging, 10 from rag-picking and seven from the streets. Among these children, many belong to other States, including Odisha, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

A total of 54 cases were registered against persons using children for labour and begging and other offences.

In one incident, a plastic warehouse was raided in Mailardevpally from where 10 children were rescued while eight other children were rescued from a hotel in Mailardevpally. “They were working as child labour since a year for a meagre wage of Rs 200 per day. They were brought from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh,” an official said.

Officials found that Covid safety precautions were not followed where these children were working and the conditions were unhygienic. Three children were also rescued from their mother who was forcibly making them to beg on the streets and in another incident, 16 children working under hazardous conditions in a brick kiln were rescued from Dundigal.

Apart from this, a one-year-old girl was rescued from a woman, who used her for begging at Chintal. “They were forced to work under unhygienic conditions and crammed into small rooms. They were neither provided proper food nor leave. These children aged in their early and mid-teens were suffering from skin diseases and other health issues. When checked, a few of them were tested positive for Covid-19 too,” the official said.

The rescued children were produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and later sent to various shelter homes and handed over to their parents.

Child rights need to be protected: Mahesh Bhagwat

Child rights need to be protected and child labour in all forms should be eradicated from the society, said Mahesh M Bhagwat, Police Commissioner, Rachakonda.

Speaking at the inauguration of worksite schools in Odia and Marathi for children working at brick kilns in Cheriyal and Thimmayipalli villages of Keesara on Saturday, Bhagwat said the initiative was started as a follow-up to ‘Operation Smile’ in 2017 aimed at eradicating child labour.

“The worksite schools ensure that all the migrant children will continue their education back in Odisha after the end of migration season. The worksite school in Marathi was established for the first time in Thimmayapalli for the children from Nanded of Maharashtra, who accompanied parents to work in the kilns,” he said.

Migrant workers from Odisha bring along their children when they come to the State in December to work in the brick kilns for a period of five months before heading back to their native places which makes their children to work along with their parents in the kilns and ignore education.

“During their stay here, the children were found working along with their parents or idling around. So to keep them away from work, we introduced the worksite school concept three years ago and since then, have successfully been running them,” Bhagwat said.

He reminded that with the amiable partnership of the Rachakonda Police, district administration, Aide-et-Action international and brick kiln owners, the dream of ensuring education and child care to migrant children became possible.

He further said that it was a huge challenge for him and his team to find out a best answer to the problems of rescued child labour from brick kilns and said that worksite schools appeared to be the perfect answer in providing education for interstate children and campaigning for elimination of child labour in brick kilns.

The Commissioner reiterated that the initiative succeeded in making many brick kilns free from child labour and added that around 3,000 students have utilised these schools and continued their education in Odia language till date.

Such worksite schools were launched and being operated in Karimnagar, Ramagundam and Mancherial as well, he said, appreciating the kiln owners for supporting the initiative.

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