A special team comprising officers of the Department of Labour on Wednesday raided many Kalamkari production units to crack whip on the practice of child labour.
Responding to the news article ‘Poverty forces children into Kalamkari industry’ published in this columns on Tuesday, Machilipatnam Circle Assistant Labour Officer K. Siva Nageswara Rao, along with Avanigadda circle officials, inspected seven Kalamkari units.
“Majority of the units in Brahmapuram and Pedana we visited were remained closed. However, we could not found any child labour in these units,” Mr. Siva Nageswara Rao told The Hindu . Possibly alerted about the raids, many Kalamakari production houses were remained shut and a few units those hired children below 14 years of age did not allow them to work from Wednesday.
Meanwhile, people related to the industry in Pedanna on Wednesday posted a video revealing how the children were being forced to work for a meagre pay.
US-based Kalamkari Lovers have condemned the act of hiring children in the Kalamkari industry and spread a message to stop such practice online by sharing the new report published in The Hindu .
