Bhubaneswar: Seven more children were rescued on the second day of Operation Muskan-III with the help of Nayapalli and Capital police on Sunday. The rescued children include five boys and two girls.
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.