In the campaign against child begging, which was started on May 1 in Dehradun, the district police have successfully enrolled 65 children in schools. Circle Officer (city) Shekhar Suyal, who is also the nodal officer of Operation Mukti is going to conduct a meeting with all the stake holders today to discuss the plan of action to rehabilitate those children specifically, who chose this line of work to earn for their bread and butter.
CO Suyal informed, “The awareness programme under Operation Mukti is going very well. From Monday morning a programme regarding the same will be aired on 93.5 Red FM. We have also enrolled 65 children in schools. We will be conducting a meeting on Monday with all the non-governmental organisations to make plans and allocate them roles in the rehabilitation phase of the campaign.”
When asked about what alternative will there be for kids who beg for livelihood, he said, “To enrol these children in schools is not an easy task. Maybe even now you can find children who are roaming in the streets to sell balloons or something; they are between the ages of 10 to 15 years. They do such work after coming back from school. As summer vacations are going on, they are more active. The meeting is mainly to address this issue — to find out what we can do to help them out after school. Many NGOs are willing to help us with the skill development programme.”
