(ANS – Hyderabad) – Over 200 children, held in bondage as child labourers, were rescued by the city police of Hyderabad on Saturday, 24 January, from one apartment building in Talabkatta, Bhavaninagar, Hyderabad. Finding no appropriate place to shelter these hapless children, all except 3 girls were brought to Don Bosco Navajeevan, Ramanthapur where the Salesians, staff and especially resident children have been going out of their way to make them feel comfortable and secure.

The operation, based on a tip off, was carried out by over 400 police personnel under the leadership of Dy. Commissioner of Police, Mr V. Satyanarayana. It is said a cordon and search operation as part of anti-terrorism checks led to this huge rescue operation.

Though the newspaper reports said that most of the children were aged below 12, a number of them could be over 18. They hail mostly from Bihar. They were brought to the city by owners of bangle manufacturing units hailing from Uttar Pradesh or Bihar. The parents of the children received advances to the tune of 10 to 20 thousand Rupees.

Further, the children were being paid paid only two to five thousand rupees a month as wages and were made to work for long hours and not allowed to leave the place of work. The newspaper reports said that children who should be holding books or playing games were working with chemicals and in hazardous conditions.

It is said that the police have taken into custody as many as 20 brokers and employers involved in child and bonded labour. A police official described the high tech vigilance used by the owners with CCTV Cameras monitoring the work of these children. They also mentioned that those who did not perform were beaten. The children were not provided with blankets or warm clothes.

The rescue operation was a part of Operation SMILE, a month long programme initiated by the Home Ministry on New Year’s Day this year, and carried out by the CID department. As they had not given prior information about it to the other departments, the people of the Labour Department (NCLP) and the Child Welfare Department were taken by surprise and did not know how to handle the huge number of children suddenly brought to them.

Published 27/01/2015