The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Child labourers walk to freedom

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 21, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Child labourers walk to freedom

Staff Reporter

FREE AT LAST: The rescued child labourers. - Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

Hyderabad: The recently launched Child Labour Helpline is proving quite effective. Based on complaints received on it, district officials swung into action and rescued seven children, including a boy, from bonded labour after raids on several houses in Durga Bai Deshmukh colony on Tuesday.

The children, who are in the 7-10 age group, were later admitted to the Residential Bridge Camp, a hostel-cum-school, at Saidabad. The children were working as domestic help for different periods varying from three months to three years. Cases under the Bonded Labour Act were booked against their employers in the Amberpet police station.

The rescued children are: Baleshwari (Ethammula village, Jadcherla), Suvarna (Yadi Reddypally, Kalwakurthy), Ramulamma and Laxmi both sisters of Yellakonda, Nalgonda district, Shyamala (Uppal), Kala and Narsimha of Angadipeta in Nalgonda district.

Paltry pay

The children were engaged on yearly payment of Rs. 3000 to Rs. 8000. The money was paid to their parents, said Sirajur Rahman, project director, National Child Labour Project.

Three girls -- Suvaran, Ramulamma and Laxmi -- were found working in the house of a contractor, Veera Rdddy, while others were rescued from different houses in the Durga Bai Deshmukh colony. The raid, which was carried out at 8.30 a.m, was coordinated by the RDO, Hyderabad, the NCLP project director, the MROs of Amberpet, Bandlaguda and Nampally.

Wild goose chase

What did the children do? They cooked, scrubbed floor and washed clothes. Were they beaten up? "No. We were treated properly. Sometimes we were scolded," said Narsimha,7.

The NCLP is receiving four to five calls every day on the helpline (24650326 or 23204123). Sometimes chasing the information provided is turning out to be wild goose chase.

For instance, when officials landed up at a door number given at Navanirman Nagar in Jubilee Hills it turned out to be an open plot. Similarly, no children were found at addresses given at Begumpet and Parsigutta, it is said.

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