PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has launched the “Mera Bacha Alert”, a mobile application developed with an aim to help people and departments concerned in recovery of missing children in the province.

“This application is a recent addition to the already available Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Citizens Portal and would also be included in Pakistan Citizens Portal,” said an official statement issued here on Thursday.

The chief minister appreciated the efforts of Performance Management and Reforms Unit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in developing this important application.

He said that it would not only help to recover the missing children but would also be helpful in discouraging unpleasant incidents regarding innocent children in the province.

“It is the priority of this government to ensure protection of children. Mera Bacha Alert application is a golden step in this regard,” said the chief minister.

A ceremony was held at Chief Minister’s Secretariat to launch the facility.

The chief minister was briefed about the preparation of the application, its mechanism and features. It was stated that the idea of the application came in reaction to various cases of child abuse.

The application is providing complete mechanism to the parents to register a report if their child goes missing. They will be able to add a picture of the missing child along with his/her attributes.

The application will generate alerts and SMS would be sent to the district police officer, RPO, IGP and chief secretary. All the details including registration of FIR, start of investigation, dispatching of team, evidence collection and completion of investigation would appear on the dashboard of district police officer.

The application will also help in developing a directory of all the cases of missing children at provincial level and can be monitored by the chief minister and chief secretary as well. Through public web portal, directory of missing/found children and contact directory of all police stations and child protection centres would also be available.

Integration with police calls centres and safe city authorities and dedicated access to Edhi and other child protection centres is also ensured in this application.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2019