Bhubaneswar: The Railway Protection Force (RPF) rescued 169 minors, including 29 girls, from the East Coast Railway jurisdiction in July, as a part of its drive against human trafficking, an official release said.
The children were reported missing or had fled from their homes, it said.
East Coast Railway’s geographical jurisdiction extends over three states encompassing Odisha, parts of Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
In order to leverage its strategic positioning at stations and in trains, its pan-India reach and response mechanism to supplement the efforts of Anti Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) of police, the RPF had recently launched an operation against trafficking called ‘Operation AAHT’.
During the last five years, the RPF has rescued 2,178 persons from the clutches of traffickers, the release added.
PTI