Seven child labourers from Odisha got rescued

Bhubaneswar:29/4/20: 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.