The busy Kempegowda Bus Station — where numerous children are abandoned or used as a trafficking point — now has a first-of-its-kind child assistance centre (CAC). The aim is to ‘create a child-friendly’ bus station.
Inaugurated on Friday, the centre is run by child rights NGO, BOSCO. It will function at platform 1 (local services) of the central bus station through the day.
George P.S., executive director, BOSCO, said 1,663 children were rescued from the bus-stand in 2014. “Over two lakh people use the bus-stand daily. We estimate that more than five children get lost here daily,” he said.
Apart from tending to lost children, the CAC will also create awareness among commuters on the childline number-1098. H. Nabiraja Jain, Chairman, BMTC, said such a facility would come up in Shivajinagar bus-stand too.