While the state Government agencies are finding it difficult to locate 3,611 people who are reportedly missing since floods ravaged the state, the task force, set up by the state’s Social Welfare Department, has managed to avert 43 cases of illegal trafficking in the districts that were worst hit.

The Social Welfare Department had constituted a 400-person task force, comprising NGOs and volunteers. They were deployed at bus stands, railway stations and relief camps. Speaking to The Indian Express, Social Welfare Department Principal Secretary Vijay Prakash said: “We have been coordinating with the Bihar Livelihood Project, a voluntary group that monitors the task force and compiles data pertaining to missing persons.” He added that illegal trafficking becomes easy during floods due to the prevailing chaos and displacement of a large number of people. He said: “The police in Madhepura, Saharsa, Supaul, Purnea and Araria were extra vigilant and thereby prevented illegal trafficking.”

With several people, including teenaged girls, being separated from their families, there has been a widespread apprehension of illegal trafficking. The task force members rescued 43 girls, some of whom had been taken to transit points and four of them to red light areas of Muzaffarpur and Sitamarhi. No trafficker, however, could be arrested.

Prakash admitted that tracing missing people is a daunting task. “We do not have a data on the number of people who have been reunited with their families,” he said. The task force has so far united four people with their families at Supaul and Madhepura.

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