Patnaik informed that 3,748 children have been rescued this year in the Operation Muskan-III.
Tackling crime against women, children and other vulnerable sections of the society has always been the top priority of the State said Patnaik adding the law and order situation in the State is by and large peaceful.
Establishment of women and children desks at police stations and direct recruitment of assistant public prosecutors are few of the steps taken by the government to improve the criminal justice system in State, added the Chief Minister.
Besides, claiming there is a surge in the Naxal activities in State, Patnaik alleged the Centre is not respecting Odisha's demand for deployment of adequate central force in the Naxal-hit areas.
He laid emphasis on the connectivity issue in the cut-off areas and said the State government is hopeful of establishing connectivity to the cut-off areas of Malkangiri district, a safe zone for the ultras, in a few months, despite lack of Central grants.
The supplementary budget of the Home Department was passed amid dissent of the BJP and Congress following which the House was adjourned till Monday.
While the boys had been brought to Mumbai in the pretext of providing jobs, the girl Sumitra Mallik, a native of Gajapati district, had been left by her brother at a house in Goa. Sumitra alleged before police that she was working as a maid in the house and was tortured in various ways.
Earlier on July 25, Crime Branch Special DGP BK Sharma had informed that Odisha Police has rescued 2039 children including 1750 boys and 289 girls in the first 10 days of the first phase of Operation Muskan III.
He had said that 10 teams of police and women and child development department officials will visit different States for rescue of children in the second phase of the operation.
The aim of the training program was to sensitize police officials about different aspects of law, procedure and handling of children, informed Crime Branch Special DGP BK Sharma in his tweet.
One-day training program of district level officers on Operation Muskaan III being held today in CB Conference hall pic.twitter.com/0ECnJjDJEc
— Bijay Kumar Sharma (@BijayKumarShar7) July 25, 2017
He also informed that Odisha Police has rescued 2039 children including 1750 boys and 289 girls in the first 10 days of the operation. Inter-agency coordination at district level and close monitoring by Odisha Crime Branch account for the success of the Operation, he tweeted.
Ganjam, Bhadrak & Berhampur have been adjudged best performing police districts while many other districts have shown exemplary dedication and results, added Sharma.
Ten teams of police and women and child development department officials will visit different States for rescue of children in the second phase of Operation Muskan III.
In the 2nd phase starting from 31st July, ten teams of Police and W&CD officials shall visit different States for rescue of children
— Bijay Kumar Sharma (@BijayKumarShar7) July 25, 2017
Sharma further stated that information about missing children can be shared with Odisha Crime Branch on telephone number 0671-2304314 and mail to ahtucidcb.orpol@nic.in.
It may be mentioned that while the first phase was carried out within Odisha the second phase will focus on rescuing and tracing missing children from Odisha in other parts of the country.
Earlier on Sunday, seven children, including five boys and two girls, were rescued with the help of Nayapalli and Capital police. They are currently lodged at two open shelters – Ruchika Social Service Organisation and Vishwa Jeevan Sangha – in the Capital city.
Similarly on July 15, six children, working as child labourers at Khandagiri Square, had been rescued by a joint team of the State Crime Branch and Commissionerate Police. They were later sent to an open shelter home at Jatni.
Total children rescued in the first phase of Operation Muskan-III till date from Bhubaneswar is 19 while as many as 489 children, 427 boys and 62 girls, were rescued across Odisha.
While the first phase will be carried out within Odisha the second phase will focus on rescuing and tracing missing children from Odisha in other parts of the country. The second phase will be launched from July 31.
It may be mentioned that eight special teams have been formed to trace, rescue and rehabilitate missing children under the operation which would continue till August.
As per reports, three children are from Ganjam district while others are from Bhubaneswar. All the children were produced before the Child Welfare Committee, Bhubaneswar. They are currently lodged at two open shelters - Ruchika Social Service Organisation and Vishwa Jeevan Sangha - in the Capital city and their counselling has started.
Total children rescued in the first phase of Operation Muskan-III are 13.
Six children, working as child labourers at Khandagiri Square, had been rescued on July 15 by a joint team of the State Crime Branch and Commissionerate Police. They were later sent to an open shelter home at Jatni.
It may be mentioned that eight special teams have been formed to trace, rescue and rehabilitate missing children under the operation which would continue till August.
Earlier on July 14, a high level meeting was held at the Crime Branch headquarters in Cuttack, where it was decided to carry out the first phase of the Operation Muskan within Odisha. The second phase of the special programme will extensively focus on rescuing and tracing missing children from Odisha in other parts of the country. The second phase will be launched from July 31.
Accourding to sources, the operation is a joint initiative by the Crime Branch and Labour and Child Welfare departments. The operation, which, will be carried out in two phases, will start from July 25 and continue till August 24. the search operation will be conducted within the state in the first phase scheduled to be undertaken between July 25 and August 9. In the second phase between August 10 and August 24, teams will visit other states to trace missing children.
As per sources, 10 special teams have been constituted for the purpose. These teams will visit states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu amongst others to trace the missing children, informed Crime Branch DG BK Sharma.
“This operation Muskan-II will continue for one month. This is being carried out by in collaboration between the Crime Branch and the State government’s Women and Child welfare department. There will be two phases. In the first phase we will try to find the missing children within the State. In the second phase, 10 teams including police and representatives of the Labour, Women and Child Welfare departments will go outside the state based on the information on missing children available with us from our complaint-registration website and rescue them. They will be rescued, brought back to Odisha and will be rehabilitated. In January 2016, under operation Smile-I, 515 missing children were rescued and rehabilitated. Out of these, around 185 children were rescued from outside the State,” said Crime Branch IG Asit Panigrhi.
A native of Khatiguda village in Koraput district, Sambaru Bhatra was working at a borewell digging unit there.
Sambaru was one among the five children rescued from Thiruvallur in Tamil Nadu under Operation Muskan, launched by the state Crime Branch police to trace missing children, about 10 months ago.
"Sambaru had earned Rs 25,000 during his stay at Thiruvallur. The Child Welfare Committee (CWC) of Thiruvallur had asked its Khurda counterpart to open a bank account to which the money would be transferred. Though the account was opened in August 2015, Sambura is yet to get his hard-earned money," Pratima Rath, a member of CWC (Koraput), said.
She said they have sent several reminders to CWC, Khurda, but to no avail. "We have again written to them to expedite the process," she said.
Sambaru wants to start a business with the money. "I don't know when I will be able to do that. I have appealed to the authorities concerned to take steps to ensure transfer of the money to my bank account at the earliest," he said.
Sambaru is now working as a daily wage labourer in his village.