Cops, activists rescue 8 teens from railway station

Berhampur: Eight teenagers, including five girls, were rescued by Childline activists with the help of government railway police, Berhampur, from the railway station here on Saturday.
The teenagers, aged between 14 and 17 years, were allegedly being trafficked to Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu to work in a garment factory, said Prabhuprasad Patra, coordinator of Childline, Berhampur."We suspect the trafficker might have fled from the spot," he said.
The rescued children could not tell the name of the trafficker. Four of the rescued teenagers are from Pudamari in Ganjam district and four girls belong to Mohana in Gajapati district. Most of them have appeared the matriculation and Plus II examinations.
"They will be produced before Ganjam District Child Welfare Committee (CWC), and arrangements will be made for their return to their homes with proper counselling," said Patra.
On Friday, childline activists rescued five teenage boys, while they were being trafficked to Kerala to work in the shrimp processing units. All the rescued boys belong to Sorada in Ganjam district, he said.
In the last one month, Childline activists have rescued 34 minor children, 26 of them being girls from the railway station here,while they were being trafficked to different states, said Childline activists. The rescued children belong to Ganjam, Gajapati and Kandhamal districts. At least three traffickers were arrested by GRP (Berhampur) during this period, sources said.
In most cases, the traffickers lure the innocent children, mostly girls with the promise of a good salary and accommodation. At the workplace, the victims were forced to work in hazardous condition with a meagre salary, alleged Sudhir Sabat, director Childline, Berhampur.