As many as 208 children, including 40 girls, were rescued by police teams as part of ‘Operation Muskaan’ in the Visakhapatnam district.
Teams from the district police along with Integrated Child Development Society (ICDS) and a few NGOs conducted searches under various police station limits and rescued the children. Among the rescued, include street children, orphans and a few who were working at various places. Many were found at railway station platforms, bus stands, hotels, dhabas, auto stands and at other public places.
According to Superintendent of Police, Visakhapatnam Rural, Attada Babujee, the main intention of the operation was to ensure that children were not involved in any kind of labour works. He also said that details of children, their reason to be out of home and other issues are being learnt and they are handed over to parents. Orphans are being handed over to NGOs, he added.