Bhubaneswar: Seven child labourers hailing from the Dhuliguda village of Odisha were rescued from a factory based in the Bikaner district of Rajasthan. The boys were kept under bonded labour conditions in a private company named M/s Ceramax Granito Pvt. Ltd in the Goyalr village. On receiving the informing about the boys, Gram Vikas, an Odisha-based non-profit organisation, wrote to Labour Line, Rajasthan to seek the help of the District Collector of Bikaner to rescue the boys. The Superintendent of Police, CB-CID, Odisha, Shri Rahul R (IPS), spoke to his counterpart in Bikaner to take necessary action. Later, Labour Line, Rajasthan and the District Legal Authority rescued the boys with the help of Bikaner District Administration and the local police. An FIR has been registered under the Child Labour Act and the Child Protection Act against the owner of the factory. All the children rescued from the factory were screened for the COVID-19 and now have
been staying at a quarantine facility in Kolayat.
The seven boys hail from Dhuliguda village under Kaniguma Gram Panchayat in
Thuamul Rampur Police Station and Tehsil, Kalahandi district of Odisha. Another boy
along with the seven boys worked under bonded labour conditions in the M/s Ceramax
Granito Pvt Ltd. The boy could not adjust to the work environment and cried a lot. He
was allowed to return back to Kalahandi with the agent who had lured them. The agent
gave him 200 rupees at Bhawanipatna and asked him to return home. The boy did not
receive any work payment.
The rest of the boys at the factory reported that they were
tortured at the workplace. The employer had taken away their mobile phones. One out
of the seven managed to hide his phone. He secretly called his family members, Gram
Vikas’ staff and village elders and expressed to return home. He said that they are
getting food once during the day time and once during the night time and were made to
work from 9 in the night till 9 in the morning since the start of the lockdown. He shared
photos of the working condition through WhatsApp.
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