Labour department joins hands with police to rid Dehradun district of child labour
PNS | DEHRADUN
In an effort to eradicate child labour in the Dehradun district, the Labour department has joined forces with the Police department to conduct operations aimed at rescuing children from exploitative labour situations. Informing about this, assistant labour commissioner Deepak Kumar revealed that, under the guidance of district magistrate Savin Bansal, the Labour department is fully committed to eliminating child labour in Dehradun. Recently, a targeted operation has been launched, focusing on Fridays and Saturdays, to locate and rescue children engaged in labour. The initiative is structured in three phases- raising awareness, enforcing regulations and providing support for rehabilitation. It has been observed that many individuals, including children, employers and parents, lack awareness about the issue of child labour. Considering this, a comprehensive awareness campaign has been initiated to educate them about the causes and consequences of child labour, he added.
Kumar emphasised on the importance of being vigilant against child labour and informed that the department has recently collaborated with the Police department to address the issue. The Police department, under the guidance of the DM, has initiated a campaign to tackle child beggary. In order to support this effort, the department has coordinated with them to rescue children from engaging in child labour during the drive. This initiative will continue till the Dehradun district is free from child labour, he said.
Regarding the special campaign against child labour before Deepawali, Kumar noted that a virtual meeting had taken place with NCPCR officials, who directed Labour departments nationwide to conduct a child-labour-free campaign from October 1 to 31 in anticipation of Diwali. Following these instructions, the Labour department in Dehradun district is prepared to eradicate child labour.
In this special campaign for Deepwali, no instances of children working with fireworks have been identified and no children have been found engaging in child labour so far. Further, it has been recently decided that this initiative will now focus on addressing children being used to sell lights and other items under the influence of the products’ owners or parents. If any cases of child labour are discovered in this regard, appropriate action will be taken, he added.
