Maneka Gandhi asks NE states to appoint Spl Mahila Protection officer

SHILLONG: With reports of trafficking of children from the North East region, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi today said states have to appoint special 'mahila' protection officer in every village by year end who will act as link between the police and those in distress.

"There is enormous amount of trafficking of children going on from the North East. We find them in Kerela, Tamil Nadu and many are going to Malaysia, Thailand. It is not fair," Gandhi said.

To cope with this, states have been asked to appoint a special woman police volunteer in every village by the end of the year, the selection and training of which will be done by the SPs, she said.

The job of a special woman police volunteer in the village is to keep tab on the village and see whether children are missing, women are getting beaten by husbands, or if girls are not sent to school, the Union Women and Child Welfare Minister said.

According to the minister, "In some states it will not be one woman but (in some) there could be a group of ten people with men also being part of it."

Gandhi asked the NE states to examine the 'Shaurya Dal' model in Madhya Pradesh.

In the wake of such a model put in mechanism in MP, Gandhi said, "Crimes have come down hugely (there), the attendance in schools have gone up, the attendance of teachers in schools have also gone up. The mortality due to illness has got down."

Gandhi said the number of trafficking by using trains is over 5 lakhs annually and her ministry has taken up initiatives to put up posters to prevent such criminal acts from taking place.