OPERATION MILAN TO TRACE 469 MISSING PEOPLE

A 13-year-old girl went missing from her house in Lucknow in March, 2015. Her family members ran from pillar to post in search of the girl after registering an FIR of kidnapping with the local police but could not find her even after year-long effort.

Her parents had lost all their hopes to ever find their daughter, but operation ‘Milan’ has kindled new hopes for them as inspector general (IG) of Lucknow zone A Satish Ganesh has asked to search as many as 469 people who were reported missing till April 27 and not recovered yet. He said the operation would be carried out across 11 districts of Lucknow zone which include Lucknow, Hardoi, Lakhimpur Kheri, Rae Bareli, Sitapur, Unnao, Faizabad, Sultanpur, Barabanki, Ambedkarnagar and Amethi.

The maximum number of 140 people have been found missing in the state capital while the second largest figure of 56 is from Sitapur. This is followed by 52 from Kheri, 46 from Barabanki, 33 from Hardoi, 32 from Unnao, 22 from Faizabad, 21 from Amethi, and 17 each from Sultanpur and Ambedkarnagar.

The IG said the highlight of the operation is of meeting of the victim’s family with the additional superintendents police (ASP) concerned to know the police response so far. He said the meeting would be held to know more details about the missing person. “Thereafter, the police station incharge concerned would be issued 15-day deadline to track the missing people. The support of electronic surveillance team would also be provided to them to track missing people,” he emphasised.

Ganesh said the review of efforts in 15 days would be done and best performers would be awarded accordingly, while stern action would be taken against the worst performers. “Many times it happened that young children who flee their houses over different reasons land in wrong hands. Cops often do not take such cases seriously and suggest families to search on their own. A little effort by police may help such children to meet their families again,” he emphasised.

The IG said the cases where more police effort would be required would be done accordingly. He said further action in tracking remaining missing people would be chalked out after reviewing the outcome of operation Milan on May 20.