In an endeavour to spread awareness about large number of vulnerable children coming in contact with Railways as passengers or abandoned, trafficked, run away children separated from their family, Shri Ashwani Lohani, Chairman, Railway Board, along with Smt Stuti Kacker, Chairperson, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) today launched an awareness campaign on Protection of children in contact with Railways. Shri Dharmendra Kumar, IPS, DG/RPF, Shri Vishwesh Chaube, GM/Northern Railway, Shri R.N.Singh, DRM/Delhi division and other senior officials were also present on this occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Ashwani Lohani, Chairman, Railway Board said, “this campaign has been launched to address the issue of protection of Children across the entire railway system & to sensitize all stakeholders, passengers, vendors, porters. Currently, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Railways to ensure Care and Protection of Children in contact with Railways is successfully implemented at 88 stations. Now, we intend to implement in 174 stations.”
Ms Stuti Kacker, Chairperson, NCPCR in her brief address stated that NCPCR is thankful to Ministry of Railways for such collaboration. She added that the support of secondary stakeholders like coolie/porters, vendors at stations is extremely useful in protection of abandoned children. She appreciated the efforts of RPF in taking swift actions to protect the children from trafficking & abuse.
The event also witnessed a street play by the children from different NGOs on the issue of Protection of Children. Shri Ashwani Lohani, Chairman, Railway Board along with Ms Stuti Kacker, Shri Dharmendra Kumar & Shri Vishwesh Chaube also released a poster to raise awareness for protection and care of children in contact with Railways. The event concluded by Vote of thanks by Shri R.N.Singh, DRM/Delhi.