COIMBATORE: Authorities in Coimbatore, Erode, Salem, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and the Nilgiris will soon intensify efforts to abolish child labour in fields brought under the ambit of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.

The Union Government has added employment of children as domestic help or servants in restaurants, hotels, motels, tea shops, resorts or other recreational centres to the list of occupations prohibited under the Act with effect from October 10.

S. Jayakumar, Project Officer, District Rural Development Agency, Coimbatore, says a meeting will be held in November first week. In raids conducted on 150 establishments in Tirupur and Coimbatore on October 10, three child labourers were rescued. The district has 16 special centres for their rehabilitation.

In Erode, squads will be formed at the district, divisional and taluk level to rescue domestic child workers, says Collector D. Karthikeyan. The squads will include officials of the Revenue and Labour Departments.

"If any specific complaint is received, the administration will ... take steps to rescue domestic child labourers." The administration will also organise sensitisation workshops for owners of hotels, restaurants and automobile workshops, building contractors and others.

Nilgiris Collector Santosh K. Misra says the Project Officer of the Integrated Child Development Scheme will review the situation periodically.

A Labour Department official says that 113 establishments were inspected last month and that none employed children.

In Krishnagiri, the administration will crack down on all eateries and establishments shortly. Assistance will be sought from self-help groups and non-governmental organisations to provide information on domestic child labourers.

The administration, along with the UNICEF, initiated steps to provide one-year vocational training to the rescued children. A software has been prepared to track child labourers and the financial position of their families. A child line will be set up in Krishnagiri to provide information on domestic child workers. According to Collector Santhosh Babu, the administration will form teams in every taluk. `Project Smile' officials in Salem say the drive will be intensified. With the local body elections over, the officials plan to conduct awareness programmes, a survey to identify child labourers and raids to rescue the children.

Salem Child Line rescued six children employed in a few hotels in the city on October 10.

(Inputs from M. Soundariya Preetha-Coimbatore, R. Sundaram-Erode, D. Radhakrishnan-Udhagamandalam, S. Prasad-Dharmapuri and S. Ramesh- Salem)

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