Initiative to curb trafficking: Project Swayamsiddha rolls out in all districts

SOUMITRA NANDI | MP | 16 October 2018 | Kolkata: Having rolled out project Swayamsiddha through out the state by the end of September, the state police will began training sessions for the cops following ground work at the district level soon after Durga Puja.

The project, an initiative taken by the South 24-Parganas district police in the April 2016 to curb trafficking and early marriage, has seen a reasonable success and prompted the state police to start the project in all the 23 districts. The entire project is being supervised by the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Inspector General of Police (IG), CID (I) Ajey Mukund Ranade has already held a meeting in the third week of September with nodal officers of every district who will oversee the programme and has given them an idea about the implementation of the project. Superintendents of police and various NGOs which have been working in the area of trafficking were also present in the meeting,

"We will be holding awareness campaign involving teachers, students, panchayat members and parents whereby every stakeholder will be informed about the modus operandi of the trafficking agents, the evils of trafficking. The flow of information in regards to crime against women is of utmost importance which we have learnt from our experience in South 24-Parganas," Ranade said.

Every school and Panchayat will be equipped with a swayamsiddha box, which will provide the opportunity to girls to provide clues to the administration about suspicious movements of people in their neighbourhood.

"Identity of the person providing such information would be protected. It is heartening to see that girls these days are so interactive and are coming out to tell their issues without any hesitation," a senior CID official said.

He added that if the time gap of dissemination of information of trafficking or similar crimes is lessened, the chances of rescue as well as nabbing the offender increase. In South 24-Parganas, more than 70 traffickers have been arrested and around 150 child marriages have been prevented. The districts that have the highest number of human trafficking include South and North 24-Parganas, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Murshidabad.

The state investigating agency is laying a lot of emphasis on rehabilitation of the rescued victims by involving various government departments including the state Women & Child Development department.

"The Swayamsiddha project, aimed at awareness of school girls that has seen a lot of success in South 24 Parganas, is helping immensely in our efforts to prevent child marriage and trafficking," said Shashi Panja, Minister of State for Women & Child Development and Social Welfare.