Kathmandu, February 1

A joint team from Central Child Welfare Board and National Centre for Children at Risk rescued 27 street children from different areas of Kathmandu today.

Twenty-five boys and two girls were rescued at midnight from Thamel, Basantapur, Pashupatinath and Kapurdhara areas.

According to Inspector Mohan Bikram Dahal, all the rescued children were under the influence when they were rescued.  “We caught them while they were busy smoking and drinking,” he said, adding that all the children had been handed over to Sober Recovery Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre, Buddha. With this the number of street children rescued so far in this fiscal has reached 91.

Dahal shared that Central Child Welfare Board and National Centre for Children at Risk have been rescuing street children every week.

“Though we rescue street children every day, we have some constraints. Due to lack of budget we are not able to carry out our rescue operation effectively,” he said, adding, “Almost all street children rescued so far are found to be abusing drugs, but due to lack of sufficient number of rehabilitation centres, we are not able to send them all to such centres.”

“Due to lack of budget and space rehabilitation centres refuse to take them. We have to request different organisations for help as there is no government-owned rehabilitation centre,” he said.

The children, who were rescued today, are originally from Sarlahi, Dhading, Tikapur, Bhaktapur, Morang, Dolakha, Tistung, Gorkha, Kavre, Ramechhap, Kathmandu, Butwal, Rupandehi, Sindhuli and Pokhara, among other districts. Most of the street children are either abandoned by their parents or the children of single/divorcee parents.