Of the 716 women and 164 children reported missing in the Balod district of Chhattisgarh since 2022, 610 women and 152 children have been recovered under the ‘Operation Muskan’ and ‘Track the Missing People’ campaigns in the state, deputy chief minister Vijay Sharma, who also holds the Home portfolio, informed the Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday.
The minister's reply came in response to a question by Congress MLA Anila Bhediya, who alleged that agents and brokers linked with human trafficking networks were actively working but no action had been taken against them.
She asked for the number of missing people in the Balod district and the measures being taken for their recovery.
In reply, Sharma stated that he had provided data from each police station in the Balod district. ‘We have succeeded in recovering 92% of the missing children and 84% of the missing women, and efforts are ongoing to trace the remaining missing people,’ he said.
Sharma added that, according to Supreme Court guidelines, the government runs 'Operation Muskan' and 'Track the Missing Person' campaigns while Anti-Human Trafficking Units also send teams to recover the missing people.
In response to another question regarding the long-pending transfer and posting of policemen posted mainly in insurgency-hit regions, Sharma announced that the government is going to introduce a new policy wherein applications for transfers can be submitted online and posting orders will be sent to their residences. This way, the officers will not have to go through extensive bureaucratic procedures.
Congress MLA Savitri Mandavi pointed out that many officials in Naxal-affected areas manage to get their transfers within 2-3 years of posting, while others continue to work for more than 10 years.
Sharma responded that constables posted in Bastar are required to stay there for ten years as per the rules and are given additional benefits for that. He also mentioned that there are specific guidelines for policemen posted in the Bastar region.
