Porters, vendors turn child protectors at Chennai Central

Facing difficulties in monitoring children who go missing in the crowd, or are abandoned, or runaways who land up at the Chennai Central railway station, the Government Railway Police on Wednesday launched a volunteer group comprising porters, vendors, auto and taxi drivers at the station to hand over such children either to the police or to the Childline office.

One of the busiest railway stations in the country, Chennai Central records lakhs of footfalls every day, which makes it difficult to keep track of the children. Though there is a Childline office present at the station premises to rescue them, such children often end up in the hands of anti-social elements and traffickers.

It was an initiative by GRP’s Chennai division superintendent Georgy George to enrol those employed in and around Chennai Central in an NGO called Udhayam Volunteers.

The NGO, launched by ADGP C Sylendra Babu on Wednesday, has 34 prepaid auto drivers, 20 porters, 10 prepaid taxi drivers, 9 vendors, 34 Childline workers and 14 private security guards as volunteers. Speaking at the launch, Sylendra Babu said in 2017, the GRP had rescued 2,062 children and reunited them with their parents or were sent to rehabilitation homes. 

A GRP official said that similar volunteer group will be launched in Coimbatore and Salem on Thursday and soon in Egmore as well.