The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : 24-hour children's helpdesk at CMBT

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 22, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

24-hour children's helpdesk at CMBT

Staff Reporter

Chennai : The Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) and Childline has set up a 24-hour helpdesk for children in the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) complex.

"Since last April, we have rescued about 100 children from the CMBT. Some have run away from home, while others are being brought to work in the city," said S. A. Jayamary, Street Children Project Officer, ICCW, Tamil Nadu.

The helpdesk, inaugurated on Wednesday, seeks to strengthen the rescue efforts at the point of the children's entry into the city.

Ms. Jayamary said that her team members had rescued several children aged between 10 and 18, who ran away from home, most of them from southern districts of Tamil Nadu.

Handbills were distributed to encourage the public to report any ill-treatment of children.

The rescued children would be reunited with their families or given food, clothing, shelter and education. Older children would be offered vocational training.

P. Kaliambal, Deputy Director of Social Defence, and Shanmuga Vadivelu, Executive Engineer of CMBT, inaugurated the helpdesk. Helplines for children are 1098 and 26260097.

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