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Baliyatra: 15 child labourers rescued

CUTTACK: A joint raid by the police and members of the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) of Cuttack district rescued as many as 15 child labourers engaged by various establishments at the ongoing Baliyatra festival here on Wednesday.

“We have rescued 15 child labourers and issued show-cause notices to as many as three employers who had engaged children below 14 years in their establishments at the Baliyatra festival,” said the project director of Cuttack NCLP, Aditya Mohapatra. The rescued children would be admitted to our special schools to pursue education and each would be provided a stipend of Rs. 100 every month, Mr. Mohaptra said, adding the drive to rescue child labourers would continue till the festival ends on December 2.

The project director was of the opinion that spreading awareness against this social evil in such festivals would yield the desired result. He, however, pointed out that the violators of provisions under Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, should be awarded exemplary punishment. He said the employers who had been issued show-cause notices were to be prosecuted with a sincere effort to reach a logical conclusion. If found guilty, the offenders invite imprisonment from three months to one year or fine ranging from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000 or both as per law. The quantum of punishment doubles for repeaters. The NCLP in Cuttack identified as many as 14,509 child labourers engaged in different sectors in all the 14 blocks of the district, said Mr. Mohapatra. Of these, as many as 3,500 were engaged in hazardous sectors, particularly in beedi, matchbox and cracker-making industries. Many children were also engaged in stone quarries of Badamba and Narasinghpur block, which was also identified as another hazardous sector, the project director said.

Mr. Mohapatra further said that the district opened 33 special schools under the NCL project to provide education to child labours rescued from their workplace. “Each special school now has 50 rescued child labourers in their roll and we are ensuring that these students after completing their courses here are admitted in general school to pursue formal education,” he added.

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