As many as 16,457 street children and orphans have been rescued this year under Operation Muskaan, an initiative by Andhra Pradesh Police, said DGP Gautam Sawang on Wednesday.
This year Operation Muskaan was implemented in three phases for 10 days.
While holding a webinar on "Operation Muskaan - Way Forward and Strategies", Sawang said that of the 16,457 rescued children, 83 per cent are boys.
The DGP said that most of the rescued children were working as labourers and beggars.
"It is observed that 76 per cent of the children are in the age group of 11 to 15 years, and 21 per cent of them are in the age group of 6 to 10 years," he said.
Andhra Home Minister Mekathoti Sucharita, who also took part in the webinar through video conference, said that all government welfare schemes should be available to the street children and orphans.
"The new generation slogan is 'Today's street children are the scholars of tomorrow'," she added.
Women Development and Child Welfare Principal Secretary A R Anuradha; Labour Principal Secretary B Udaya Lakshmi; officials of law, labour and other departments from all districts, and members of Child Welfare Committee and Juvenile Justice Committee among others participated in the webinar.
( With inputs from ANI )
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