Operation Muskaan, undertaken by police teams in Ongole, Chittoor and Kurnool led to the rescue of 1,258 distressed children on Saturday.
In Ongole, SP Siddharth Kaushal said that 750 children were traced and given counselling. He also recalled that last time, on November 20, 2019, it was the Prakasam district police that stood first in the State by rescuing 423 children during Operation Muskaan. He said tough action would be taken against those recruiting children for work.
Success stories
Chinnaganjam Sub-Inspector Lakshmi Bhavani rescued a 11-year-old girl selling groundnuts near the railway gate and enrolled her in a local school there and helped her get all important documents.
In another case, Ballikurava Sub-Inspector Siva Nagaraju rescued seven boys working in granite quarries in the area, while S.N. Padu Circle Inspector rescued eight child workers.
In Kurnool. a total of 362 children were rescued in the special Operation Muskaan drive. Of them, 310 were boys and 52, girls. As many as 54 children were rescued in the Kurnool subdivision alone.
Addressing reporters on Saturday, Superintendent of Police Fakkeerappa Kaginelli said that all the 79 police stations in district participated in the operation.
In Chittoor, the police teams rescued as many as 146 children, including eleven girls, from brick kilns, railway and bus stations, hotels and workshops, in Madanapalle, Palamaner, Chittoor, Puttur and Sri City police sub-divisions as part of the drive.
Superintendent of Police S. Senthil Kumar told the mediapersons that special teams were formed to identify orphans, abandoned children, those who had run away from homes and those who were vulnerable to exploitation.
In Chittoor Corporation limits alone, the urban police rescued as many as 22 children after conducting searches in local railway station and bus station.
