BANGALORE: On an average, 25 runaway children land on the platforms of the Bangalore Railway Station daily, and at least 40 per cent of them flee their homes owing to problems related to academics, says a joint study conducted by management students of Mahaveer Jain College of Engineering and volunteers from Sathi, an organisation working with such runaways.

Ten volunteers kept a 24-hour vigil on the railway platforms between January 25 and January 31 as part of the exercise.

Disclosing this to presspersons here on Tuesday, Sathi director Pramod Kulkarni said the study was conducted to understand the magnitude of the problem. These runaways are found to be begging, sweeping, rag-picking and doing odd jobs, and are often lured by touts to work in hotels and other industries.

He said: "The study shows that there should be more number of staff to rehabilitate children found on the platforms. We have found that a large number of children come from good backgrounds and have left their homes unable to bear parental pressure to study." The study found that most children are addicted to smoking, gutkha, glue and sex, and that it is difficult to rehabilitate them if they stay on the platform for more than six months.

Apart from Karnataka, the runaways are from Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa.

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