Five tribal children, who were being trafficked on the pretext of providing jobs, were rescued at the Vijayawada railway station here on Saturday.
Four girls and a boy, who were travelling in a train, were shifted to the home run by the Navajeevan Bala Bhavan.
They are natives of Peddabayalu village of Paderu agency area in Visakhapatnam district.
“The mediator, Ganesh, who, too, is a native of Peddabayalu village, was escorting them on the platform when Navajeevan staff noticed them. As Ganesh and the children were giving incoherent replies, we took the children into custody,” Navajeevan Bala Bhavan executive director Balashowry said.
Ganesh, a mason from the same village, has been working with a contractor at Lingampalli in Medak district. He was transporting the children to Secunderabad, Mr. Balashowry said.
“The mason convinced our parents and paid money to them, and they agreed to us along with him. Ganesh also promised to provide us work at a construction site. Owing to poverty, we are migrating to Secunderabad in search of some work,” the girls said.
Meanwhile, Krishna District Child Welfare Committee (CWC) chairman B. Nagesh Rao said the children were found to be anaemic and in an unhygienic state. “They also did not possess any certificates, and their parents could not be contacted over phone,” Mr. Rao said.
According to Ganesh, five persons from Peddabayalu were working at a construction site at Lingampalli, and that he was taking five more children to help masons and to do other chores.
“As they are children aged between 13 and 16 years, we intercepted and referred them to a home,” the CWC chief added.
