Shillong, Jun 28 : With their job taking them to the remotest parts of the state, postmen in Meghalaya will be assigned a new task — report on human trafficking cases.
An NGO, Impulse, has entered into an understanding with the postal services to reach out to the remotest villages in the North-east for disseminating information on human trafficking.“People in remote villages of the region do not have access to any sort of information, be it on the very notion of human trafficking or available ways and measures for their redressal.
They are hesitant to go to the police station and report cases of missing children from their localities or villages,” the team leader of Impulse, Hasina Kharbhih, said.
The project includes setting up of common service centres (CSC) in post offices as coordinating locations in the region.
“The postman will distribute awareness pamphlets. Also upon receiving any information on missing children or persons, he will intimate the information to the coordinator placed at the CSCs,” Kharbhih says.
About 44,000 children go missing in India annually and only 22 per cent of them are traced. Most of them are victims of human trafficking.
The director of postal services (NE region), I Pangernu Sang, said post offices in the region were the most frequented and most reliable places.
“In many villages, letters are still read out by postmen who are regarded as trusted friends. The initiative to use postal services to create awareness will empower people in networking with law-enforcing agencies to combat the crime,” he said.
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