Chennai: The Chennai City police have rescued 2,541 people abandoned in the streets in the past year under its project ‘Kaaval Karangal’.
The project was launched in April 2021 to rescue and protect those who are abandoned by families and have nowhere to go.
City police commissioner, Shankar Jiwal in a press statement on Tuesday, said that the project was implemented in association with the Greater Chennai Corporation and NGOs for the welfare of the general public.
He said that more than 40 organisations, including NGOs, were associated with the programme to help and rescue those abandoned in the streets by families or are destitutes.
According to police, of the 2,541 rescued, 1499 were accommodated at care-giving homes run by non-governmental organisations.
The statement said that 161 of those rescued were rehabilitated with their families after the identities of the families were found out. Police also said that 159 of those rescued were given mental health assistance at the Institute of Mental Health.
On April 21, 2021, that ‘Kaaval Karangal’ was launched by the Chennai City police in association with Greater Chennai Corporation, other government departments including the social welfare department, and some NGOs.
The abandoned and homeless persons, according to police, were rescued after calls were received from neighbourhoods about the presence of people roaming the streets. Police had conducted detailed studies on people who were into begging in the city, those who were sleeping on pavements, on the verandah of shops, and in public places. These people were brought to the shelter homes and if someone insists that he/ she wanted to go out, it was allowed.
Around 770 bodies found on the street were cremated at public crematoriums. Police said that proper inquest and post-mortems were conducted before such bodies were cremated and the photographs of the body were kept in police stations as station records.
–IANS