Encouraged by the fact that a total of 188 missing children have so far been rescued under 'Operation Smile' by police teams formed in various districts of the State between January 1 and January 31, 2015, the State police is all set to extend the period of the operation by another month. Anti-human trafficking cell of the police will be deployed in other States also to rescue the remainder of the missing children, said Uttarakhand DGP BS Sidhu on Friday.
Sidhu had launched the month- long 'Operation Smile' on January 1 and 188 missing children were rescued out of who 164 children were handed over to their families while 24 were sent to child protection centres. The focus of the operation is on searching and rescuing the missing persons about whom missing reports have been filed since 2000 in various police stations and handing them over to their families, said DGP Sidhu.
In the second phase of the operation, seven teams consisting of four policemen and one inspector in each will be assigned to search and rescue the missing persons from various places like religious shrines, tourist destinations, hotels, dhaba and industries in all the districts of the State. Additional SP (crime, law and order) Mamta Vohra has been made nodal officer of the operation. She has been directed to monitor the operation from the police headquarters. As part of this operation, around 40 teams, including seven each for Dehradun, Haridwar and other districts, have been constituted.
He police department report revealed that earlier a total of 774 children were reported missing from various police stations since 2000. However, the figure came down to 297 following verification. The rest had reached homes but families had not informed police. 'Operation Smile' in just one month rescued 188 children. "We have decided to extend the period of this operation for another month so that remaining missing children can be rescued and handed over to their family members," Sidhu added.
He further said that the biggest achievement of this operation was that its team had succeeded in nabbing a Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh)-based gang member who was involved in lifting children from various places and selling them off. He announced a reward of Rs20,000 to Uttarkashi police teams for the arrest. The teams have also been directed to work in conjunction with other departments and organisations, including social welfare, women and child development, medical and health welfare, labour, NGO, SHGs and others, to successfully complete the assigned works, he added.