Some of the rescued girls who have been absorbed as security guards in Ranchi on Tuesday. (Hardeep Singh)

Ranchi, April 27: As many as 40 trafficking victims have got a new lease of life.

The tribal girls, rescued by NGOs, have bagged jobs in corporate houses — Tata Steel, Jindal Steel, Abhijeet Group and Adhunik Group — after completing a three-month course in housekeeping and security services.

The training was conducted by NGOs Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and ATSEC in association with the state labour, social welfare and CID departments.

The girls will work under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme and were handed over appointment letters at a programme at Tribal Research Institute today. Sudha Chaudhary, the social welfare, women and child development minister, was present on the occasion.

State labour commissioner Aradhana Patnaik, who also attended the programme, said that the rescued girls were already working in government agencies, but they wanted to place them in big corporate houses. “We held a series of meetings with corporate honchos in the past two months, which finally bore fruits,” she added.

The beneficiaries were ecstatic. One such girl, Sukri Kumari, who hails from Bijupara and was taken to Sukri to work in a brick kiln, said: “I was tortured and not given food. I worked under adverse conditions for two years. Then, a few of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh members came to my rescue and took me to a rehabilitation centre, Kishori Niketan,” she said.

Today’s occasion also marked the beginning of another training programme in driving and security services for 50 more rescued girls.

“After successful training and recruitment of the previous batch, we were looking forward to rehabilitate more such girls in new vocations like driving. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has supported us by providing funds,” said Patnaik.