In a move that would discourage employment of child workers in cross-pollination work in BT cotton fields in Salem district, officials of the Integrated Child Protection Programme (ICPP) and UNICEF are considering initiating legal action against the employer and the middlemen for employing them.
Despite strict monitoring, engaging child workers from nearby districts continues in interior villages in Thalaivasal blocks here as 10 children of less than 14 years of age were rescued by officials recently. Officials said that as per law, trafficking in children for economic exploitation, bonded labour and forced labour is a crime and hence action can be taken.
The ICPP officials told The Hindu that legal experts, child welfare and protection officials and the police were being consulted on the course of action to be initiated.
The Village Administrative Officers of Veeraganur and Thalaivasal, from where four and six child workers were rescued respectively, would be lodging a complaint in the police stations in the respective areas soon, they added.
