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Tamil Nadu
Raid at refugee camp in Erode
M. Gunasekaran
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Child labour not reported
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TIRUPUR: With the U.K.-based retail chain Primark cancelling its orders to three knitwear export firms here following an alert by the BBC that children were engaged by these units, a joint inspection by the labour, revenue and police departments was conducted in the refugee camp at Bhavanisagar in Erode district on Wednesday.
Joint Commissioner of Labour, Coimbatore, A. Thangavelu, who ordered the surprise raid, told The Hindu that the team inspected settlements and schools at Bhavanisagar. According to sources, 850 families of Sri Lankan refugees were residing there. While majority of them worked in quarries or did painting and masonry works, many often undertook embroidery and sequin works in garments through sub-agents from Tirupur. They were paid on piece rate ranging from Re. 1 to Rs. 10 a piece based on the work. “During our raid we found that only adult members of the families were undertaking the work. As many as 748 children from the refugee settlement have been pursuing studies in four schools there,” a senior official said.
While denying existence of child labour, the official said the team found no children below the age of 14 working in the household. Primark’s decision to withdraw the garments (allegedly made by the children) from retail outlets besides axing three long-time vendors has alarmed the exporters here.
While expressing confidence that this would not damage the reputation of Tirupur as a trusted supplier and a favourite destination to source knitwear products, Tirupur Exporters’ Association secretary G. Karthikeyan said they had to be more vigilant in future.
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