While asking officials to work towards making Dakshina Kannada free of child labour in a month’s time, Deputy Commissioner K.V. Rajendra on Sunday called upon people to join hands with the district administration in achieving this feat.
Speaking at a World Day Against Child Labour function organised jointly by the district administration and the District Legal Services Authority, Dr. Rajendra said that Dakshina Kannada has a good number of people coming from other districts and across the country for work. Some of these workmen put their children to work too. He asked officials from different departments to ensure that children of these workmen go to school.
Dr. Rajendra said that it is a challenge for officials to prevent child labour in the city which was growing vertically and there are some houses where children from other parts of the State are being employed for domestic work.
Expressing the need for a special methodology to address the issue, Dr. Rajendra called upon people to inform helplines 112 or 1098 and report instances of child labour. “Our officials cannot be everywhere. People should come forward and report child labour,” he said.
Posters announcing the criminal liability for use of child labour should come up across the district. People should volunteer to educate those rescued from child labour, he said.
Senior Civil Judge and Member Secretary of Dakshina Kannada Legal Services Authority B.J. Shilpa and Assistant Labour Commissioner B.E. Shivakumar also spoke.
Earlier, children and members of organisations working for children took part in a rally against child labour.
At the function held at the Zilla Panchayat auditorium, 10-year-old Gudiya Modi hailing from Kolkata and 13-year-old Ashwini, daughter of a waste collector, spoke about the transformation in their lives after they joined Chinnara Tangudhama (a home of children) run by Prajna Counselling Centre.
The two, along with three other inmates of the home, sang a song in praise of Tangudhama.
