The Ministry of Women and Child Development in association with Railway Ministry and Childline India Foundation will establish Railway Child Help Desk in three stations in Andhra Pradesh.
Railway Child Help Desks were being run in 20 stations across the country, and the new centres will be set up in Tirupati, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada stations.
The objective of opening Child Help Desks is to protect child rights by rescuing runaway, abandoned, kidnapped, missing, orphan children, and child labourers. It would also provide opportunities for rehabilitating such children.
About half-a-dozen government and private agencies are working in the three railway stations and are rescuing more than 1,000 children every year.
“The project is aimed at better implementation of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015, Right to Education Act 2009 and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012,” State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) acting Chairman S. Bala Raju told The Hindu .
Even as the line departments, NGOs and the child rights activists are fighting to protect child rights, incidence of child abuse and trafficking are being reported at many places, Mr. Bala Raju said. Childline India Foundation Senior Programme Coordinator Ravi said that Railway Child Help Desks were already set up at Chennai Egmore, Chennai Central, Bangalore and Secunderabad stations in south India.
*Ministry of Railways, Women and Child Development inks MoU with Childline
*12-member team to keep vigil in stations
*SCPCR to monitor activities and implement POCSO, RTE and JJ Acts
