NEW DELHI: In a major crackdown on employment of child labour, a joint team of the State Labour Department, Delhi police and non-government organisation Pratham rescued close to 500 children from illegal zari units operating in North-East Delhi on Monday.

The operation began around noon and four teams conducted simultaneous raids at Gonda, Noor-e-Ilahi, Arvind Mohalla and Usmanpur areas to rescue the children. As news of the raids spread, zari unit owners tipped off each other and fled from the scene threatening the kids with dire consequences if they revealed anything about them. To ensure that they remained untraced, the employers locked several children in rooms of abandoned houses, underground workshops and even on the roof of an abandoned Government building. Some were even sent to schools in the area to mingle with the students, said Junned Khan, head of Pratham Child Labour Team, which spearheaded the operation.

Ravi Kant of NGO Shakti Vahini, who participated in the raid, said: "A zari unit was operating from the first floor of a school building. The unit owner had got school identity cards issued to the children to show them as students. In another unit we found that several children had been hidden under heaps of quilts, while scores of children were sent to different parks located in the area to evade detection," said Mr. Kant.

Nevertheless, during the five-hour-long operation, the team managed to rescue 485 minors. They were later taken to HUDCO's August Kranti Bhawan in Bikaji Kama Place in 20-odd buses where arrangements for their stay had been made.

One of the boys rescued from a Gonda embroidery unit, Rahimullah, said he was from Motihari district of Bihar and had been working in Delhi for the past several months. "There were several other boys who were brought here along with me. Now that the police have rescued me, I wish to join my family," he said, refusing to identify the "trafficker" who had brought him here.

Iftikar of Kishanganj in Bihar said his employer did not beat him as he was a trained "karigar". "But he would beat up the trainees and even lock them up in rooms if they did not cooperate. We would get two meals a day and work for over 10 hours," he said, asking when he would be taken back home.

The Joint Labour Commissioner, Piyush Sharma, said the Union Labour Ministry had contacted its Bihar counterpart for repatriation of the children. "The rehabilitation would be carried out in coordination with Pratham," he added.

Meanwhile, the State Labour Minister, Mangat Ram Singhal, on Monday declared that more such raids would be conducted to rid the city of child labour in the embroidery business here.

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