PANAJI
Despite visible evidence of children begging on Goa’s streets and the government records claiming zero rescues in 2025, officials now acknowledge a deep-rooted failure of coordination between police and child welfare agencies.
The District Child Protection Units (DCPUs) and Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) point out that more than half a dozen children were rescued this year even as migrants from drought-affected regions of Maharashtra continue to pour into the coastal State. The discrepancy has triggered a fierce blame game amidst the High Court of Bombay at Goa monitoring the issue closely.
“The police chase ‘bigger’ cases. Child beggars don’t feature on their radar,” a CWC member stated requesting anonymity.
The agencies continue to insist there are no child beggars of Goan origin, but only migrant children exploited by their respective families—largely from Osmanabad and other distressed districts of Maharashtra.
“These children are often spotted at bus stands, yards and markets, especially in Mapusa,” another welfare official said adding, ‘We have seen patterns wherein migrant families already settled here calling in others, knowing Goa’s tourism brings generous handouts’.
Officials allege police have not only been reluctant to take initiative in such cases but also failed to arrest accompanying adults or conduct deeper probes into possible trafficking networks.
The CWC also alleged that merely producing rescued children before the Committee for rehabilitation does little to address the root causes, as underlined by recent High Court directions.
“In several cases, children handed back to their families with instructions to send them to school are back on the same streets within weeks. We don’t know how to tackle it when there is a visible coordination problem among the State agencies itself,” the official said, citing repeat offenders.
Some children don’t even possess Aadhaar cards or provide only vague addresses, making it nearly impossible to verify origins or carry out proper repatriation. “We send out requests to CWCs in their home states, but often the repatriation ends up being a revolving door,” the official added.
District Child Protection Units, which are mandated to map high-risk areas and proactively facilitate rescues, have also admitted the inability to act decisively, pointing fingers back at the police.
“Yes, we take suo-motu action and coordinate with local police,” a DCPU official said. “But the cooperation is inconsistent. Goa has become a receiver State as children are sent here by organised groups. But the machinery to dismantle this is broken,” the official added.
The Juvenile Justice Act mandates a three-pronged approach: rescue and placement in Child Care Institutions (CCIs), recognising them as children in need of care and protection and finally, repatriating them to their home states under escort.
The Panaji and Mapusa police, in particular, claim action is taken as and when needed while citing challenges after the rescue. “Those accompanying the child beggars immediately gherao the police when rescue operations are underway, denying begging. We cannot use force,” a sub-inspector claimed, admitting these children are indeed begging and being watched by alleged traffickers.
