Railways puts campaign for children on track

Kochi/Kozhikode: The railways on Monday, held a campaign, ‘Dhawani-2014’, to spread awareness among passengers of the atrocities perpetrated on women and children.
The campaign held on the occasion of International Day of Missing Children (May 25), saw a group of 18 students and two teachers travelling in the Nagercoil-Mangalore Parasuram Express, distributing pamphlets and playing a skit ‘Theevandi pole’, to carry the message across to commuters.

“The programme was held in collaboration with Assumption College, Changanasseri, Childline, and YWCA. Every year, over a 100 children are found at railway stations and most often, they are from destinations far away. They come here by long-distance trains. Often they end up being abused by anti-social elements. The public can be of great help if they report such cases to the railway police or authorities concerned,” said the railway PRO.

The group boarded the train at Thiruvananthapuram and travelled all the way up to Kozhikode. “We focused on the passivity of people who seldom prod themselves into action when it comes to rescuing women and children in distress. We will get help only if we help others”, said Dr Sr Mercy Nedupuram, Principal of Assumption College.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle at Kozhikode railway station, programme coordinator Babitha Jacob said that the response from the public was very good during the campaign.
“We are now living at a time where the crime rate against women and children is on a rise.  Creating awareness among general public on these social issues is very important,” she said.

“We selected the Parasuram Express because we can cover almost all the districts and will be able to reach a cross section of the public in the state. We had also conducted a survey among the passengers and they responded well and also gave us suggestions to improve our campaign,” she added.