Mumbai police has drawn up an ambitious plan to save children from falling prey to begging and child labour, with a little help from local NGOs and social activists.
The first phase of the campaign has already been launched with several banners put up across the city saying “Books, not bricks” to create public awareness. Soon, police will launch
the second phase, where they will use social media to create awareness. The social service (SS) branch of Mumbai police will launch a portal to provide children with a better future, informed a senior official.
According to the data provided by Mumbai police, the SS branch has rescued as many as 1,364 children from begging and child labour till October this year. According to a senior official of the SS branch, forcing children into begging is a non-bailable offence and they are doing their best to rescue children from begging rackets and working as labourers at construction sites, local shops and hotels.
For a bright future for these kids, the SS branch has drawn up plans where NGOs and local citizens must inform them whenever they notice any child working as a labourer or begging on the streets.
“We are now planning to use Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter, where we will make pages and broadcast messages to create awareness amongst people,” said a senior official from the SS branch.
“Here, we will ask citizens to inform us about child labourers and beggars,” he added. According to the police, they will rescue these children after getting a tip-off about them, and later produce them before the Child Welfare Commission (CWC). The SS branch will also try and locate the parents of these children.
