About 505 rescued children stopped education due to poverty, and 202 were engaged for works in factories, brick kilns, shops and other establishments due to broken families and other reasons, according to the data revealed by the AP Crime Investigation Department (CID) on the status of child labour.
“As part of ‘Operation Svechha Phase-2’ the AP CID, along with Labour and other departments conducted month-long raids coinciding with World Day Against Child Labour (June 12). CID Additional Director General N. Sanjay monitored the raids,” said CID Superintendent K.G.V. Saritha.
In the raids, 728 children, including 74 girls, were rescued. Of them, 662 were from Andhra Pradesh and 65 from Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka and other States. One of them was from Nepal, the SP told The Hindu on Saturday.
“The plight of the rescued children was heart-rending. About 33 who were engaged for work at different places were aged between 6 and 10 years, and 695 were in the 11-18 age group. Forty-four of them belong to Scheduled Tribes,” she said.
“During inquiry, it was revealed that 29 children were working in hazardous units, and 23 were street children. The police registered 17 cases against the employers. Some children could not reveal their family details, which was pathetic,” Ms. Saritha said.
A few rescued children were orphans aged between 6 and 8 years, and hail from broken families.
“About 82% of the children were handed over to their families and the others were referred to child care homes,” she added.
