In a significant step towards making the district child labour-free, Collector T. Munusamy has issued a notification in the District Gazette, and is all set to send a proposal to the government to accord the child labour-free status to the district.
“Sivaganga has emerged as the first district in the State to fulfil all the guidelines and criteria prescribed by the Labour Department in the Government Order issued in 2007 to become eligible for child labour-free status,” S.P. Shanthi, Inspector of Labour, said on Wednesday.
After going through the 2,000-page report, submitted by her department, detailing the steps taken to fulfil the guidelines and achieve the action plan, the Collector issued the notification in the District Gazette on February 25, she said.
The Collector would send a proposal to the Commissioner of Labour on completion of the action plan and urge the government to accord the child labour-free status to the district by issuing a notification in the Government Gazette.
After the receipt of the proposal, the Commissioner would depute an evaluating committee to assess the completion of action plan and verify the facts by sending a nodal agency, Ms. Shanthi said.
The Labour Department had launched the process of making the district child labour-free in October last and achieved the action plan for child labour elimination by holding series of meetings, sensitising the people and conducting field inspections, she noted.
Heads of all the 445 village panchayats in the district had given written resolutions asserting that child labour was not observed in their villages. Chambers of commerce, shops and commercial establishments and Inspector of Industries had also reported about the absence of child labour in their respective areas, she said.
The Child Welfare Committee and District Child Protection Officer had also asserted that they had not rehabilitated any child labour in the district, Ms. Shanthi said, adding police also had not registered any case related to child labour.
Members of the Task Force and the Assistant Inspectors of Labour made surprise visits to shops, brick kilns, hotels and factories and found no child labour. “I too conducted surprise checks and the awareness of evils of child labour was amazing,” she told The Hindu .
