Hyderabad: Thirty-nine child labourers were rescued from the old city in a joint raid on Wednesday. The children, 36 of them aged between 8 and 14 and three of them between 14 and 18 were brought from Bihar and West Bengal and employed in three bangle units at Bhavaninagar and Talabkatta.
All the children are now at the transit home at Saidabad and will soon be presented before the Child Welfare Committee.
The absconding employers will be prosecuted under the Child Labour Act, Minimum Wages Act, Juvenile Justice Act and also for child trafficking and bonded labour. About 70-80 personnel from the labour department, police, women and child welfare and some NGOs participated in the raid.
“After getting information about the bangle units we identified the place. All the units were locked without any board outside and children were living inside. There were kids aged under eight as well. The employers will be made to pay Rs 20,000 as compensation for each child. Apart from this, a penalty of Rs 20,000 and three months to one year jail will be imposed. We will also try them under the Minimum Wages Act too. Some were paid just Rs 100-150 a day,” said joint labour commissioner E. Gangadhar.
