Hyderabad: As the whole world is observing Day Against Child Labour on Sunday, officials of the women development and child welfare department is planning to make traffic signals in Hyderabad child beggar-free.
“We are closely working out a plan with the police department for this special project. Daily we see many children begging on roads. There are a few traffic police officers who inform us about such beggars, but others are generally busy with their job. So we are now working out a plan with the police and gathering other stakeholders who will be eyes and ears of this project so that we can stop child begging in the state,” said an official of the department.
“The district child protection unit has 13 members and the population of Hyderabad is more than one crore. Thus, we want to gather many people in this project who can immediately call the child helpline number, 1098, so that these children can be rescued,” added the official.
He said there were two special programmes held In January and July where they rescued such children. The plan of making the city's traffic signals free of child begging is set to start in a month's time.
There are 36 Bal Rakshak vehicles in Telangana to rescue children in need. Each district has one vehicle whereas there are three extra vehicles each in Hyderabad, Medchal and Ranga Reddy districts due to higher population. Children are rescued and kept in shelters run by the government.
DNA tests are also done to make sure the child is not kidnapped. To help children on time, more such Bal Rakshak vehicles might be introduced.
There is also an integrated child protection scheme which rescues abandoned children, children facing abuse, child marriage victims and others. Every district has its own shelter and rehabilitation centres.
A child is also given Rs 4,000 by the government, if his or her parents died, being abused or neglected, or being taken care of by poor people. This money is given to cover basic needs of the child. The amount was increased from Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,000 in April, 2022.
