Half a dozen minor children engaged in manual labour were rescued by the Haldwani police from different work places under Operation Smile here on Wednesday. The children, Imran, Samshad, a resident of Haldwani's Gafur Basti and Vikki of Haldwani's Rajpura area were rescued from a workplace at Tikonia.
The rest who are reported to be from Chhattisgarh were rescued while they were performing some street shows. Further efforts are on to hand over such children to their respective families, said Haldwani police. Uttarakhand police had launched Operation Smile across the State on March 1. Nainital district police also mobilised its enforcement network to trace the missing children and to rescue those who are engaged in physical labour.