Excelsior Correspondent
KATHUA, July 9: District administration Kathua today rescued 12 children engaged as child laborers by a local cable factory operating in a house at Ward No 21 here.
The children were rescued by a joint team of district administration on the directives of Deputy Commiss-ioner, Kathua, Dr Raghav Langer.
The DC who got the information that the children are engaged as laborers in the factory constituted a joint team which after raiding the factory rescued 12 children including two girls from there. All children belong to West Bengal and were working in the factory operating in cable assembling. A Child Protection Committee was constituted by district administration which included Assistant Labour Commissioner Kathua, Social Welfare Department, Child Protection Officer, Child Helpline ,Tehsildar and police team. It raided the factory premises operating at WNO 21, Barmora , in Municipal Council limit and found that the children were working in hazardous circumstances.
Click here to watch video
The owner of the factory failed to produce any relevant document of these children. All the rescued children belong to West Bengal and were working here lonely without the supervision of parents or guardians. Their parents are still in West Bengal and they have pushed their children to work as laborers. The children were taken to Hatli Morh Police Station for verification and questioning. Later they were sent to Associated Medical College Kathua for medical check up. The boys were shifted to Bal Ashram and girls were shifted to Bal Niketan Kathua .
The DC Kathua, Dr Raghav Langer said that after getting complaints from some persons a joint team of Child Protection Committee of District Administration raided the factory premises and rescued 12 children working there. They were sent to Bal Ashram, Nari Niketan after medical checkup. He said that the verification of rescued children is going on and their proper identity will be established. Further action will be taken after completion of the legal formalities, he added.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Cable Unit is operating in a residential house since years. But no one from the concerning Department has taken any cognizance of the same despite the reports about the child labour were received by officials in past also. The police has detained the owner of the factory for further investigation and verification. The police is also working on the theories of human trafficking that how the children reached here from Bengal after passing thousands of kilometers without parents .
Police is also investigating whether a nexus is operating to transport the children and earning money after pushing the minor children to labour is matter of investigation.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
