The excitement was palpable on the faces of the 25-odd children who gathered at TANA rescue centre at Hanumanpet on Saturday morning.
The enthusiastic bunch constituted children who were rescued from various destinations by Childline and handed over to local NGOs which played pivotal role in their rehabilitation.
The day was special and the thought of meeting top officials of departments that are involved in their rehabilitation and well being, to express gratitude for the support received from them was exhilarating.
As part of Childline Se Dosti, a week-long campaign from November 14 to November 20, kicked off to educate the common man about Childline 1098 and to drum up support by generating Childline ‘dosts’ (friends) everywhere, the participating children were eager to experience the thrill the day had in store for them.
Their joy knew no bounds when they were informed that they were heading straight to the office of the Commissioner of Police N. Madhusudhan Reddy. The latter, along with Deputy Commissioner of Police Ravindranadh Babu, warmly received the young visitors and had ‘Suraksha Bandhan’ bands tied to his wrists by them. Then the children divided themselves into two teams. One group headed to the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation office to tie the Suraksha Bandhan to Municipal Commissioner Mohammed Abdul Azeem. The children thanked him for all his support while Mr. Azeem urged them to behave in a responsible way and groom themselves into upright citizens.
Members of the second group, meanwhile, fanned out at key traffic signals and tied ‘Suraksha Bandhan’ to the traffic police on duty.
Later in the evening, children of Navajeevan Bala Bhavan performed a street play on child rights at the bustling Bhavanipuram centre.
The drive aims to focus on key issues such as child labour, sexual abuse of children, child marriage, child trafficking and denial of right to education to kids.
A few activities have been planned for Sunday at RR Pet, Monday will be observed as Day Against Prevention of Child Abuse while on Tuesday, World Child Rights Day, a valedictory session will be held at Siddhartha auditorium.
