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| Child labour goes unabated in Poonch | | | M S Nazki
Early Times Report
Poonch, Nov 25: In violation of the Child Labour Act, children below the age of 14 continue to be hired for various jobs in border district Poonch, courtesy to the callous attitude of the authorities concerned that failed to act tough against the violators.
According to the Act, no child below the age of 14 can be employed for any work while a leisure walk on the road could make a sane person aware of crude reality that children mostly work at dhabas and tea stalls and even at auto workshops.
Though the authorities time and again claim to have abolished the menace of child labour but the practice goes on unabated in Poonch district.
If sources are to be believed the under age children could be seen working in various hotels, restaurants, sweet shops, industries and other shops openly. Though these children maintain that family compulsion push them to work, but the law enforcing agencies have turned mute spectators to their responsibilities to take action against employers who are violating the law.
"I don't have any other means of income in my family, that's why I have no other option but to work at this sweet shop," said 10-year-old Shabir Ahmed a child labour at the Mendhar town.
"Poonch has become the hub of exploitation of the children of age below the fourteen by the big business houses and affluent people who take them as domestic help on peanuts.
"The growing number of child labour has exposed the height of the ineffectiveness of the labour department to control the child labour in Poonch district," said Advocate Tanveer Qureshi , a social activist.
As per various activists there are several cases of child labour when the businessmen openly violate the law and employ children being brought from Mendhar, Surankote, Mandi, Haveli and other remote areas of Poonch district.
"Keeping the poor socio economic status of rural families, the touts bring children to the main town to do menial type of labour, said Tariq Khan Gen Secy Press Council of Mendhar, adding, "surprisingly Labour Department has never bothered to take any action against the guilty.
"In the absence of any check, it becomes easy for people to employ minors for hazardous jobs, he added. "Poverty forces children to work. Children are preferred as they can be retained for a longer period because they acquire no other skill except the work they are trained into, another local added.
"It is very difficult to verify the claims but we have directed enforcement officers to conduct raids on such shops and business establishments. Operations will be conducted soon and legal action will be taken against those found guilty," assured Assistant Labour Commissioner Poonch
He said that despite staff constraints, we are conducting surprise checks to check the violation. Those found guilty will not be spared. |
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