1397 kids rescued in Telangana under 'operation smile'

Hyderabad: As part of 'operation smile' to trace missing children, a total of 1397 children, 1043 boys and 354 girls, have been rescued in Telangana state, CID police said on Saturday.

According to police, 660 children, including 435 boys and 225 girls, have been restored to their parents in the state.

A special campaign 'operation smile' was launched in districts of Telangana on the lines of a mission carried out by the Ghaziabad police (wherein 227 children were recovered) to trace missing/abandoned children.
 The Ministry of Home Affairs had asked all states and Union Territories to launch 'operation smile' from January 1 to January 31, a release from Telangana CID police said. In this connection, teams of one sub-inspector and four police constables in each sub-division in Telangana started rescue of vulnerable children from railway stations, bus stations, religious places, traffic junctions, footpath etc., in coordination with Child Welfare Committees (CWC), District Child Protection Unit, NGOs and Shelter Homes, it said. In the process of the programme, Hyderabad police rescued around 400 children who were forced to work as child labourers in the past one week followed by 265 children getting rescued from Karimnagar district and 234 in Nalgonda district.
Hyderabad police conducted raids on bangle-making units and rescued 220 children, most of them boys and some girls, under Bhavani nagar police station limits on January 24. These children were brought from Bihar to work in these units.
On January 29, 64 children were rescued from bangle manufacturing factories in Chandrayangutta and Kanchanbagh police station limits while 35 children were rescued from similar units in Khalapattar and Rein Bazar police stations limits yesterday. As many as 65 more children, mostly from West Bengal, were rescued today during the special drive, police said.