Mumbai: WR, CR reunite 800 runaway kids with family in 7 months

Over 800 children who had run away from their homes to escape reprimand from parents or with dreams of a Bollywood career have been reunited with their families by railway authorities in seven months Of these runaways more than 300 were found in Mumbai and the rest at stations and trains in urban areas on Central and Western railwaysRPF personnel with a rescued child at LTT KurlaAccording to WR chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur ldquoBetween January and August 2021 the Railway Protection Force rescued 369 children These children including 233 boys and 136 girls had mostly run away from their homes and were reunited with their families with the help of NGOs like Childline India Foundationrdquo he saidThrowing more light on the trigger Thakur said ldquoMost of these young kids left their homes without informing their family members due to a fight family issues or in search of a better life and glamour These children were found roaming on platforms or on station premises or sometimes on trains by RPF personnelrdquoOf the 369 children rescued by WR 156 were from the Mumbai division 43 from Vadodara division 42 from Ahmedabad 94 from Ratlam 27 from Rajkot and seven children from Bhavnagar division said the officialRPF personnel with a runaway child at Asangaon stationIn August alone 71 children on the Western Railway including 51 boys and 20 girls were rescued and reunited with their parents said officials On the Central Railway the number of children who were handed over to their parents was 477 between January and July 2021 This included 310 boys and 167 girlsldquoOf those rescued 166 children 104 boys and 62 girls were found in Mumbai division 70 children 39 boys and 31 girls in Bhusawal division 40 children 22 boys and 18 girls in Nagpur division 171 children 130 boys and 41 girls in Pune division and 30 children 15 boys and 15 girls in the Solapur divisionrdquo Central Railway chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar saidCase studiesgtgt In December 2020 a 14yearold girl ran away from her Nagpada home after her father scolded her She was found on a platform at Sion station around midnight RPF constable S N Shinde and inspector Sunder Singh Prajapati first made her feel safe and then counselled her The cops got in touch with the city police and united her with her worried parentsA policewoman carries an abandoned baby found at LTTgtgt In July 2021 a 17 years old girl was found travelling alone on train no 03201 between Kalyan and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus At LTT ticket checker Narendra Mishra informed women RPF cops who got in touch with B Patidar and Sharda Kamble of Childline Organisation They learnt that the girl was from Patna and had fled from home to make a career in modelling and acting in Mumbai The girl was handed over to Bal Sudhar Grih Dongri by the Childline staff and the cops to facilitate her returnThree children rescued from railway premises Such kids are handed over to Childline India Foundation for further actiongtgt In July 2021 a 14yearold girl ran away from her home in Mehbubnagar district of Telangana after being scolded by her mother She got down from train no 06524 NizamuddinYeshwantpur Express Special at Pune RPF constable Shashikant Jadhav and lady constable P Shrivas found her at Hadap0sar station While the girl spoke only Telugu after much effort she shared her unclersquos number The RPF spoke to her family and handed her over to Sathi NGO for further action477No of children rescued on CR between JanJuly369No of minors rescued on WR between JanAug156No of kids rescued from WRrsquos Mumbai division166No of children rescued from CRrsquos Mumbai division