Seventy three children from south Odisha, who had been rescued from a private children’s home at Peelamedu in Coimbatore of Tamil Nadu, reached Rayagada by train on Wednesday night.
On Thursday, arrangements were made for the return of these children to their parents. Child welfare officer of Rayagada district, Ramesh Nayak, who had gone to Tamil Nadu to get back these rescued children said that of the 73, 30 were from Rayagada district, 29 from Gajapati district, 14 from Koraput and three from Kandhamal district.
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These children were kept at a child care home at Rayagada town under supervision of the Rayagada district Child Welfare Committee. Rayagada District Collector Sashi Bhusan Rath also reached the child care home to enquire about the condition of these rescued children. According to sources, by evening parents and officials related to child welfare from different districts reached Rayagada town to take back the children. The children from Gajapati, Koraput and Kandhamal districts had left Rayagada for their respective districts. The Collector promised the parents of the rescued children from Rayagada district that all possible support would be provided so that these children could pursue their studies near their homes. “We could not bring back three other children from Coimbatore as one of them was hospitalized and two others had to appear for their secondary school board examination in Tamil Nadu. These children are in custody of the Coimbatore administration,” said Mr Nayak.
A total of 141 children from Odisha had been rescued from the private children’s home in Coimbatore. According to Mr Nayak, apart from the 73 who reached Odisha and three who stayed back, the rest were handed over to their parents in Tamil Nadu.
The children from Odisha were rescued from a private children’s home, ‘Home of Hope’, in Peelamedu area of Coimbatore. The Coimbatore administration had come to their rescue following the hospitalisation of a large number of these children due to suspected food poisoning. Investigation revealed that the children’s home did not have proper registration and environment to house these children, said Mr Nayak.
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Officials in Coimbatore rescued 253 children from the home. Apart from 141 children from Odisha, there were children from Tamil Nadu, Nagaland, Bihar, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh among the rescued children.