Berhampur Railway Station, a child trafficking hub

Berhampur- The Ganjam district in Berhampur turned into a hub of human trafficking. From reports and sources, there were 343 children were rescued from child labor at this station. This station of Odisha became the hotspot for child labor. Agents of labor works are coming to this place, many reports said this.

The persons and agents behind these acts are yet out of the RADAR, but the children around 343 have been rescued from crucial acts. Many officials mainly the Railway Protection Force and Government Railway police are doing applicational work in this field. They are rescuing the children from humanistic labor works. They performed well last year.

In Dec 2022, 11 children were rescued by the Railway Protection Force and Government Railway police. The team tracked these children while they are being transferred to Andhra Pradesh. The training records indicated that this was from Bihar via Berhampur.

When the team find these children, they rescued them and delivered them to their family’s safety. But the others department failed in to include children or their family members in various government-run welfare schemes for them. They are just uniting families with their children.

The Department of Labor, Education, and Childline, sources told that the failure happened Due to a lack of proper coordination. The lack of connection between Child Protection.

Last January 2021, 21 children – 12 boys and 9 girls were rescued from this station. And after that for the whole of 2021, on an average 30-40 children were rescued every month.

Sources are telling that the age of the recently rescued children is between 15 and 18 years. The main factor behind this trafficking is the opportunity to search for a job, many officials said.