Police stations to house street children

Vijayawada, Sep 18 (UNI) In a rare gesture to urchins, the police stations and armed reserve headquarters would henceforth offer night shelter to them, City Police Commissioner Umesh Sharraf said.

Mr Sharraf made this announcement after reacting to complaints by a group of street children, living under the protective wings of Vasavya Mahila Mandali (VMM), a local NGO, at an interaction programme here.

The children complained to him that the lathi-wielding cops were chasing them when they sleep on pavements.

He suggested the children to make use of police stations within the city limits and the grounds of the armed reserve headquarters for overnight stay.

Apparently moved by the observation of the VMM Medical Director P Deeksha that the night shelters were scarce for the nearly 20,000 to 30,000 street children in the city, Mr Sharaff said his plea to a few corporate companies to donate fund for the construction of night shelters had been fruitless.

The Commissioner assured the NGO that he would recruit the boys who had completed standard X as home guards.

UNI CS JJ RL DB1157