Hyderabad police raid city shops for kids
Hyderabad: Many children are employed in different parts of Hyderabad. Kids from Bihar, Bengal and Uttar Pradesh are secretly employed in embroidery, hand weaving, jewellery, slippers, safety pin and bangle manufacturing units in areas of Suleimannagar, Kishanbagh, Hassannagar, Vattepally, Shalibanda, Tappachabutra, Begum Bazaar, Gulzar Houz and several other places.
The police managed to raid Talabkatta and rescue more than 200 children in a single day since most the children were concentrated at one place. However, the children in the above areas are scattered, working in smaller production units. Police is are now gearing up for more raids.
According to member of State Commission for Protection of Child Rights Achyuta Rao, more than 2,000 children can be found employed in various parts of city.
“So many children are employed in the markets and manufacturing units. In Begum Bazaar alone, we found more than a 100 children,” he said.
Cheap labour and more working hours encourage the manufacturing unit owners to bring kids from other states.
A child is made to work for more than 13 hours every day of a week, and paid less than Rs 2,000 per month.
Meanwhile, sources said that there was strong political pressure on the police to downplay the charges on local leader Yaseen Pehalwan, who was arrested for employing children. However, police officials said that they would not succumb to the pressure.