Bhubaneswar: The East Coast Railway has set up a women and child desk at the railway station here to prevent trafficking.

The desk, which started functioning from the station's platform No. 1 on Tuesday, will be managed by Childline.

Child Welfare Committee member Benudhar Senapati said the desk would operate round-the-clock at the station. "On an average, 10 women and children are trafficked from the railway station every day. The desk will work in co-ordination with the Government Railway Police and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) to rescue the victims."

"We also urge passengers to inform us about any suspicious person. We also rehabilitate the rescued persons in child care institutions," said Senapati.

An RPF officer said the rail route had become an easy route to transport children for trafficking as it is difficult to trace them in crowded trains.

"Traffickers have switched over to the rail route after the state police started strict vigil on roads. The traffickers use small stations to transport children to other states," said the officer.

The RPF officer said they had rescued 359 children, including 49 girls, from the station in 2016, while 198 children were rescued in 2017.

"We have already rescued 35 children from being trafficked by February this year. We have also been handing over the rescued children to Childline. The desk will create a better co-ordination between us and Childline," said RPF inspector Nrusingha Prasad Pattnayak.

Child righst activists said most of the women and children from the state are trafficked to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and, in some cases, neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh where they are not only forced to do household work but also sexually exploited.

"Most of the times, the accused who traffick these women and children manage to escape from the police. Stringent action should be initiated against the accused along with rehabilitation of the rescued," said an activist.