Chandigarh: During the first three weeks of the ongoing ‘Operation Smile, HaryanaPolice has traced, rescued and rehabilitated 1308 children including child beggars and labourers who were reported missing from different parts of the country. These include 536 missing children, 300 child beggars and 472 child labourers. In addition, the Police has also searched and reunited 493 missing adults to their families under the campaign.

Aiming to trace missing children and also curbing the child trafficking menace, a month-long program ‘Operation Smile’ was launched on 1st April and would continue till April 30. "We are committed to protecting the rights of our children and ensuring their safety and well-being.The success of 'Operation Smile' is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our police personnel, as well as the support and cooperation of all stakeholders. We will continue to work tirelessly to trace and rescue missing children and combat the scourge of child trafficking," said DGP Haryana PK Agrawal.

As many as 212 children and 192 adults were reunited in the third week. Giving further information, a police spokesperson said that State Police, under Operation Smile, are engaged in tracing and recovering missing children and adults and handing them over to their families. In the last three weeks, the positive results of the hard work of the state police have started coming to the fore. In the third week itself, the combined efforts of all the districts and the Anti Human Trafficking Unit teams have succeeded in reuniting 212missing children and 192 adults with their families. 

Out of the total, 177 missing children have been reunited with their families by the district police and 35 children by the AHTU units. The work is also being done on old files and families are being searched. Taking cognizance of the old cases of missing children, instructions have been given to every police station to take prompt action in this regard. Following the instructions of Additional Director General of Police OP Singh, the police have started conducting inspections at the shelter homes.

During the third week, about 147 shelter homes have been inspected and after counseling the children living there, they have been reunited with their families. It is often seen that due to repeated counseling of children living in shelter homes, they remember things related to family or home, which makes it easier to find their families, he added.

Teamsof District Police and Anti Human Trafficking Units have rescued 209 child labourers and 117 child beggars during the 3rd week of operation smile. Apartfrom this, counseling of parents has also been done so that the rescuedchildren do not go into child labour again. Giving additional information, he informed that till now a total of 300 child beggars have also been rehabilitated by the state police. Children indulged in begging are often found at places like railway stations or bus stands, from where they are rescued and sent to shelter homes.

Giving further information, the spokesperson informed that in the third week of Operation Smile, Gurugram, Faridabad, Kurukshetra and Karnal districts were ahead in reuniting the missing children with their families. Gurugram  reunited 27 children and 20 adults, Faridabad reunited 21 children and 16 adults, Kurukshetra 26 children and 6 adults and Karnal district has been able to  reunite four children, 22 adults. At 35, Palwal ahead in the rescue of child labourers, followed by Kurukshetra 18 and Fatehabad 15. /BI/