The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) has rescued 10 child labourers from New Delhi Railway Station.
The children were being trafficked from Jainagar, Bihar to work in Delhi-NCR and Ambala, and most of them were found unaware of being forced into child labour.
They were in unsafe and unhygienic conditions, without wearing masks. The children were rescued by the teams, successfully and provided with masks and sanitizers along with refreshments.
A senior government official said statements of the rescued children have been recorded, followed by medical tests including COVID-19 test. “The children will be produced before a Child Welfare Committee on Wednesday through video-conferencing and meanwhile, they will stay at Child Care Institution at Lajpat Nagar.”
Two days ago, in a late-night operation, the DCPCR in coordination with SHO (Old Delhi) and teams from NGOs Bachpan Bachao Andolan and ChildLine-Salaam Baalak Trust rescued six children who were being trafficked from Bihar to work as labourers in Delhi.
With the outbreak of COVID-19 and ensuing lockdown, there has been a drastic impact on the income of families. The traffickers have been targeting poor families in Bihar, persuading them to send their children on the pretext of giving employment.
DCPCR has taken note of the dramatic increase in child labour during the pandemic and has been working on a fire-fighting mode to curb it through a multi-stakeholder approach, coordinating with all stakeholders including Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs), Mandi Associations, Private Schools Associations etc. of Delhi.
The Commission is in process of evolving a comprehensive long-term strategy to make Delhi Child Labour Free by 2023.
Anurag Kundu, Chairperson, DCPCR outlined the Commission’s scheme for providing financial incentive for reporting of child labour. He urged citizens to pro-actively report instances of child labour and win cash award upto to Rs. 10,000.
He further elaborated that the Commission is building an early warning system to determine child adversity using children’s school attendance as an indicator. It is in the process of laying down processes to activate a series of actions and interventions in the event of children remaining absent from the schools for more than 50 percent days.