Children vulnerable to trafficking in Rayalaseema

KURNOOL: Child trafficking in Rayalaseema districts has taken an ugly turn with the parents themselves being responsible for the deplorable incidents. This was an opinion presented by panelists at a meet organised by Girls Advocacy Alliance here on Thursday. Poverty, illiteracy, lack of gainful employment and lure of lucre were some of the reasons cited by the resource persons that could be the contributing factors behind this pernicious practice.

Children below the age of 18 are ending up at brothel houses at Pune, Mumabi and Delhi. Amoga, a panelist, said that Kurnool district has the dubious distinction of being number one in child marriage with 42.7 per cent girls getting married before reaching 18 years of age. This is followed by Krishna district (31.9 per cent ) and Visakhapatanm (29.8 per cent ).

She said Kurnool district with a high population of scheduled tribe, namely Chenchu tribes, has a social acceptance of paying prices for young brides by the groom’s family. As this tribe is historically impoverished and vulnerable, parents of the girl child prefer to get rid of them in return for financial benefits from this sort of marriage. Venkatadri, DSP, who was associated with busting child trafficking modules, said that Allagadda in Kurnool district has an organised gang involved in kidnapping baby girls and pushing them into the trade. He narrated case studies from Galiveedu, T. Sundupalli mandals in Kadapa district where majority of girls were landing up in brothels of Pune, Mumbai and Delhi.

Panelists were unanimous in their recommendation that village level committee comprising panchayat secretaries and Asha workers need to be vigilant in arresting such tendencies as they were the first points of contact at grass root level. Child marriages are also rampant in Kurnool district as during marriage season at least two child marriages were performed in the district particularly in Adoni,Yemmiganau, and Mantralayam areas, panelist noted.