With the initiative of the district Child Welfare Committee (CWC), district administration, and the police to check child labour serving a clear warning to people who employ children trafficked from other States, efforts are now under way to repatriate at least 10 children rescued from their bonded labour.
The initiative against child trafficking was launched last month in view of the CWC assessment that a large number of children trafficked from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are working as child labourers in parts of the district. The drive helped rescue of 15 children by Childline volunteers here in June. The CWC is now preparing to complete the formalities for the repatriation of 10 of them to their families.
“The orders for repatriating five children have come through and the process of completing the formalities in respect of five more children will begin soon,” said Anju Mohan, District Child Protection Officer.
From Andhra, TN
The children being repatriated are from Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, and Tiruvallur and Vellore in Tamil Nadu, she to The Hindu . Letters have been sent to the CWCs of the respective districts the children hail from to ensure their future protection.
Five of the 15 rescued had already been released to their parents, she said.
Of the children rescued from the district, six of them were freed from households in Panur here. It was projected that nearly 500 children were illegally employed here, mostly in households.
According to district CWC chairman T.A. Mathew, some of trafficked children, now freed, were found to be working for up to six years.
