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The children were rescued in the joint rescue operations by the team of Zila Yuva Vikas Sangathan, RPF personnel, Anti-Human Trafficking Unit and other concerned officials.
As per the data obtained, since August 2025, as many as 110 children were rescued from 12 trains heading towards Punjab from West Bengal and Bihar. Of 12 rescue operations, nine were conducted on Karambhoomi Express, while three on Jan Nayak Express
Programme Coordinator of the Sangathan Ajay Tiwari, said, “We receive information about the children being transported through the train. We get a rough idea about the number of children, with some pictures and videos and the coach number. The information is shared with the Child Welfare Committee, RPF and Anti-Human Trafficking Unit. As soon as the train makes a halt, the teams enter the coach and after getting confirmation that the children were being taken for labour, they are rescued and taken for counselling.”
During the rescue operations children belonging to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Nepal and West Bengal have been rescued.
Meanwhile, FIRs were also registered in three cases, he said, “Since the trains make halt for a few minutes, it gets difficult to scan all the coaches, and the persons and traffickers, who are taking the children, manage to hide themselves. They are aware of the fact that these trains remain on the radar of the NGOs.”
Ajay said the children are taken for work in garment manufacturing units, cycle manufacturing units, bread factories, rice mills and agricultural fields.
Those who are trained are given Rs 7,000 to 10,000 a month, while those who go for the first time are kept on training and are provided with just food and shelter. After a few months of training, the children start getting the monthly remuneration.
Paramjit Singh Badola, president of Zila Yuva Vikas Sanghthan said, “Though we managed to rescue over 100 children, a large number of minor children are being taken through the trains regularly for labour. The continuous rise in cases of child trafficking and child labour is a matter of concern. Though the children were sent by the parents with their consent, they are being exploited.”
“NGOs don’t have much powers and we can only help the government. The concerned departments and the GRP where cases are registered should take some stringent action against the owners of the factories where the minor children are being engaged in labour. There is a need to set an example by taking action against the units involved in wrong practice by shutting them and slapping hefty fines. We also urge the community members to start paying attention toward the plight of the minor children instead of spending money in religious activities,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ranjeeta Sachdeva, Chairperson of the CWC Ambala, said “During counselling, it came to light that the majority of the children have never attended the school, while some children had dropped out due to different reasons. They belonged to economically weaker families and were sent by their parents for labour with their consent. They have no interest in providing education to their children and all they want is to see their minor children earn some money.”
“In the majority of the cases the children were being taken to Punjab. The children, who were rescued, were handed over to their respective families and we are establishing contact with the CWCs of their respective areas to keep a watch on such families,” she said.