Twenty one minor labourers from Odisha, facing physical and mental torture, have been rescued in Mumbai this past week. Twenty of them are girls.
A team from Odisha, consisting of police officers and child right activists, has reached Mumbai to take them back home. Speaking to The Hindu from Mumbai, a member of Gajapati district Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and member of the team, Bhagyalaxmi Nayak, said all the rescued have been kept in a child care home.
“We have met and interacted with them. All of them want to return to their homes. They will be produced before the Mumbai CWC on Monday and we will take their custody,” said Ms Nayak.
Of the rescued, 11 are from Gajapati district, five from Kandhamal, two from Dhenkanal and one each from Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar districts.
All of them are from poor families. They were lured by promises of good wage and better life by some middlemen.
They were working in a packaging unit in Mumbai on monthly wages ranging from Rs. 3000 to 5000. They alleged physical and mental torture at the work place. They were working and living without any basic amenities and health care facilities.
About a month back, one of them had escaped and reached his home in Kandhamal district. The latest rescue operation was based on the information provided by him.
The racket of luring minors from remote areas of Odisha to outside the State by dubious middlemen continues. Twenty six girls, including nine minors, were rescued by Childline activists from Berhampur railway station on August 23 while they were being sent to Tamil Nadu.
On August 1, Childline activists had rescued 16 girls from the same railway station while they were being taken to outside the State.
