Eighteen child labourers were rescued from restaurants and eateries in Bhanjanagar of Ganjam district in Odisha.
They were rescued during a raid by district level task force against child labour, which included members of Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Childline, police and District Child Protection Officer (DCPO). All the rescued children were boys between 12 and 14 years of age. They were from economically backward families of Bhanjanagar and adjoining areas.
The rescued children have been sheltered in Childline of Berhampur and their parents have been contacted by the authorities.
Counselling of rescued children and some of their parents by Childline authorities has revealed that poverty was not the only reason behind children becoming child labourers. “We found that in most cases, lack of parental care and guidance rather than economic condition was the reason behind the child labour status of these children,” said Prabhuprasad Patra of Berhampur Childline.
Failure to cope with education It was found that most of these children had failed to cope up with education in schools. The father of one such child is a migrant labourer in Surat. There was another child from Kulada, who had run away from home three times in the past to escape from studies. In the past, this child had been brought back from Baliguda in Kandhamal district, where he was working as a child labour. But the child had again preferred to be a child labour in Bhanjanagar rather than opting to pursue education. Convenor of Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL) Sudhir Sabat said it has revealed the drawback of the Sarvashikshya Abhiyan in rural areas. Mr Sabat demanded rehabilitation of these rescued children through proper counselling of children and their parents.
