Hyderabad: As many as 23 minor children were rescued from the Secunderabad station on Tuesday late night from Danapur Express. The cops were yet to nab the kingpin behind the child labour trafficking mafia.
Speaking to this newspaper, joint labour commissioner Dr E. Gangadhar said, “Around 400 persons boarded from Patna to the city in Danapur express. They did not have proper documents to work in Telangana. Among the 400 people, we have identified and rescued 23 children at Secunderabad.” “Meanwhile, on the basis of the same information, the Nagpur authorities rescued 40 children at Nagpur and one child at Kazipet from the same train,” he added.
Speaking about the rescue operation, he added, “We got the information on Monday afternoon about the trafficking. We formed three teams and sent one team of nine members to Bellampalli to confirm about the trafficking and the other team was deployed at Kazipet and Secunderabad.”
He said that the first team which boarded the train at Bellampalli, travelled till Secunderabad and sent updates. At around 11.40 on Tuesday night, the train reached Secunderabad station. A total of 120 officials from different departments like police, railway, child welfare department and others were waiting for the train. All the migrants were travelling in the general compartment. “When the labour department officers checked, there were no proper documents, as in, they have to register themselves in source state to work in other states,” he said.
Mr Gangadhar added, “We also suspect forgery in Aadhaar cards as the date of birth of some children was the same on the cards. We have identified two middlemen and efforts are on to nab them. The children were sent to the rescue home in Saidabad and would be produced in the child welfare department. The children will be sent back to their native places.”
Balala Hakkula Sangham, president Achyuta Rao said, “All these children and reportedly brought by a mafia to employ them in the bangle units in Old City.”
