Child labour rampant in Erode, say rights activists
They blame Labour Department for prevailing state of affairs
The rescue of 38 children from the clutches of child labour in the last two days in Erode town has come as a shock to the people of Erode.
Despite tall claims of abolishing child labour by the Labour Department, two units of a yarn processing mills were found to employ children, all from the economically backward areas of Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Tiruvannamalai, Salem and Vilupuram districts.
The two units functioned within urban limits. It was also alleged that the mills forced these children and 100 others into bonded labour as well.
“All the children belonged to poor families and brought to Erode by agents through false promises,” a senior revenue official, who was among the rescue team, said.
The children, deprived of education and other basic human rights, claimed that they were forced to work in inhuman conditions for long hours for meagre daily wages. A majority of them claimed that they were not allowed to visit their home for the past several months.
And most of the children were scared to talk and did not understand why it was wrong to work.
Some of the children said their parents received an advance payment, which was why they were sent to work.
The officials in the Department of Labour had taken steps to send the rescued children and other labourers to their native places and launched a detailed probe.
A case was also registered against the management of the unit for employing the children.
Meanwhile, child rights activists here blamed the Department of Labour for their failure to monitor the industrial units properly and curb the menace.
“Lack of monitoring was the primary reason that encouraged industrial units to employ children. There were a number of units that exploited children through cheap labour,” pointed out S.C. Nataraj of Sudar, a non-governmental organisation.
The officials, however, claimed that the acute staff shortage in the department hampered the activities aimed at curbing the menace of child labour.
“The office of the Inspector of Factories has just two staff members. It was very difficult to monitor hundreds of factories in the district with the current staff strength,” a senior official said on condition of anonymity.
61 more rescued
Revenue officials in another major drive rescued 61 more bonded labourers – including 17 children aged below 14 years – on Tuesday.
They were employed in another unit of the private yarn processing mill in Karungalpalayam near Erode from where 77 bonded labourers were rescued by a team of officials led by Mayor Mallika Paramasivam on Monday.
Revenue officials said the bonded labourers who were rescued on Tuesday were employed in the unit’s factory in Solar near Erode Town.
They were taken on a tour to Manarampalayam temple on the banks of River Cauvery and to a picnic spot near the temple on Tuesday.
The mill authorities were alerted by the raid on Monday and planned to take them to this spot before dropping them in their native towns.
Revenue Inspector Bhuvaneswaran and Village Administrative Officer Sasikala who were there on regular inspection spotted the labourers.
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