Prabhu proposes online program for tracing missing kids

Under the online registration program pictures of children rescued from railway stations will be uploaded

Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today proposed setting up of an online registration program in collaboration with the Women and Child Development Ministry to help parents trace their missing or runaway children rescued at railway stations.

"I suggest that we launch an online registration program under which pictures of children rescused from railway stations would be uploaded so that their parents can easily get to know about them and these children get united with their family at the earliest," said Prabhu here as he along with the WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi released Railway Posters for Child Protection and inaugurated a booth where a lost child can seek help at the Platform No 1 of New Delhi Railway station.

He further said that the Government Railway Police ( GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel will be trained to deal with such rescued children.

Seeking support of the people, Prabhu said that it is also the responsibility of the society to ensure that the children do not get lost or run away from their homes.

On her part, Gandhi said that a large number of children get kidnapped or run away from home, most of who take trains to end up in big cities like Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi and get introduced to alcohol, drugs, tobacco and other bad habits.

"These posters which have been released today will be put up in railway stations and boggies. They have the childline number 1098 printed on them and anybody who finds a child alone, scared or in an uncomfortable situation with adults, they can report it on this number," she said.

Gandhi said that these posters and kiosks have been set up at 20 stations and the government aims to set it up in 200 more stations and over the time in 12,000 staions across the country.