Two days ago, authorities rescued 15 inter-state child labourers employed at a betel nut de-husking unit near Puthenvelikkara, located on the outskirts of Ernakulam.
Investigations revealed that the children, falling in the age group of 11 to 16, had been working in the unit for the past several months. A case has been registered against Bijoy, owner of the de-husking unit along with three others, who brought the children there. The children were produced before the Child Welfare Committee and admitted to shelter homes while about nine of them have also joined a Lower Primary School.
Child security
The episode, orchestrated by the Ernakulam Rural Police in association with the ChildLine and the District Social Justice Department, marked the beginning of Operation Valsalya -- a drive to track the children who have separated from their parents. The project aims at ensuring the safety and security of wandering children in the district and uploading the collected details, with photographs, to a web-based National Tracking System.
“We have formed a task force to identify the hideout places of these kids such as the railway stations, bakery units or factories etc. Upon locating them, our volunteers will interact with them, verify whether the guardians with them are original or not,” explained M.M. Kuriakose, District child protection officer who heads the Valslyam programme in Ernakulam.
Repatriation
Upon receiving details on the whereabouts of these kids, steps will be initiated to repatriate them with the support of the concerned State governments.
As per statistics available with the ChildLine authority, about 178 kids were rescued from child labour and other physical tortures in the district between April 2013 and March 2014. The number, however, rose to 189 in the following year. The agency also reported about 49 cases of child losses during 2013-14 while about 50 cases reported next year.
Further, about 25 cases of missing children were reported in the district from April 2013 to March 2014.
The number of children reported missing came down to 20 in the following year.
