200 child laborers rescued
Published: November 21, 2005
Over 200 children, some as young as six years old, were rescued from small zari, carpet and garment units in northwest Delhi on Monday in a joint operation by the labour department and police.
All the children, between the ages of six and 12, belong to Bihar’s Sitamarhi district.
“It is one of the biggest raids of the year and we had been planning it for three months,” said Labour Commissioner Narendra Kumar. [Kids at Work : Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor]
The raids in Seelampuri, North Gonda, Bhajanpura and Gautampuri localities, where such small industrial units flourish, would continue, he said.
According to surveys of the area, over 400 children work in these units.
“Our investigations found that these children are paid Rs 100 to Rs 200 every month and are asked to work for over 15 hours in a day,” said Kumar. Not working brings on severe mental and physical torture.
“I had disguised as a social worker and conducted raids in the area along with my officials,” said Kumar, adding that the department had taken special permission from the Delhi government to carry out such massive raids.
He said some of factory owners managed to close down their units and flee along with the children. He said cases would be registered against them and police asked to trace them.
A similar raid was conducted in the same area in August and 98 children were rescued.
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