Mumbai, 13th May 2022: Railway Protection Force (RPF) is entrusted with the responsibility of security of railway property, passenger area and passengers. It is also discharging responsibility as mandated by the Standardised Operating Procedure for rescued children issued by the Ministry of Railways and working with other stakeholders to rescue children under “Operation Nanhe Farishte”.
Railway Protection Force (RPF) of Central Railway has rescued 504 children in coordination with Govt. Railway police and other frontline railway staff from railway station platforms over Central Railway in the past 4 months i.e. from January-2022 to April – 2022 under “Operation Nanhe Farishte”. These includes 330 boys and 174 girls and reunited with their parents with the help of NGOs like Childline.
The children who come to the railway station without informing their families, due to some fight or some family issues or in search of better life or glamour of the city found by trained RPF personnel. These trained RPF personnel connects with the children, understands their problems and counsels them to reunite with their parents. Many of the parents express their deep gratitude and thankfulness for this noble service of the Railways.
The Division –wise breakup of Children rescued from January to April 2022 over Central Railway is as under:
Mumbai Division of Central Railway registered the highest 285 cases of child rescue during the year 2022 from January to April, which includes 206 boys and 79 girls.
Pune Division registered 71 children rescue cases includes 50 boys and 21 girls
Bhusaval Division registered 92 cases of children rescue includes 47 boys and 45 girls
Nagpur Division registered 32 cases of children rescue includes 12 boys and 20 girls
Solapur Division registered 24 cases of children rescue includes 15 boys and 9 girls
During last year i.e. 2021 from January to December, Central Railway RPF in coordination with GRP and other frontline railway staff has rescued 971 children including 603 boys and 368 girls.
Also the Railways have recently signed a MoU with Association for Voluntary Action (AVA) to work on the project to end human trafficking through railways in the country. This association also known as Bachpan Bachao Andolan, which is associated with Noble laureate Kailash Satyarthy’s Children foundation. The RPF has launched “Operation AAHT” (Action Against Human Trafficking) to take stringent action against human trafficking through rail and has been rescuing victims of Human Trafficking from the clutches of traffickers.