Daringibadi/Brahmanigaon: Kandhamal district administration officials Saturday rescued as many as 71 children from two hostels which were being run illegally. Police have detained a couple in this connection.
Acting on inputs from reliable sources, District Child Protection Officer Rashmita Karana raided the two hostels at Brahmani and Gadapur villages in Daringbadi area. While 53 children were rescued from Brahmani, 18 were rescued from Gadapur. Among the rescued children, 61 were boys and 10 were girls.
Notably, two hostels named Immanuel had been functioning in Brahamani and Gadapur villages. The local administration had issued a notice in 2016 to close the hostels. However, the hostel authorities were running it by changing their names to Jibanjyoti.
According to Rashmita, the hostel authorities were giving poor quality food to students. The girls were forced to do household works of the hostel staff and the boys forced to do farming. Rashimita further said legal action will be taken against the hospital authorities after inspection.
PNN