BANGALORE: Rubber tyres and child labourers that make for the puffy blackness of Azadnagar in Davangere city limits is sought to be rectified. On priority, Azadnagar’s puffed rice making unit owners have been warned against child labour practices and the owners in turn have assured the government that they will fall in line with immediate effect.
Following a meeting specially convened in this regard in Bangalore, on Thursday, Urban Development Minister Suresh Kumar said that advanced puffed rice making machines are sought to be made available to these factory units. The cost of each machine is estimated to be Rs 50,000; subsidies and loans will be offered, he said. As a long-term measure, the Davangere City Corporation will explore the possibility of relocating all the 750 puffed rice units of Azadnagar to the city’s outskirts. About 25 acres may be required for the purpose, the Davangere commissioner is looking into it, he said.
The reliance on rubber tyres as easy and cheap fuel for the high heat required for making puffed rice is said to be the bane of the natural environment and the health of the population in these units’ current location at Azadnagar.
Including the young and old, around 2,000 people are said to be employed across the 750 units. Kolar is the other puffed rice producing hub in the state.
Minister for Minorities Welfare Mumtaz Ali Khan, officials of the Labour department, Minorities Welfare Board and Karnataka State Pollution Control Board were among those present on the occasion. Also present was senior leader and Davanagere legislator Shyamanur Shivashankarappa.
Earlier in the few minutes that the media was allowed into the meeting, it was observed that some of these factory owners thought nothing about child labour.
The labourers group come as entire family units, it is not forced said one of them.
Thursday’s meeting came in the wake of Minister Suresh Kumar’s recent visit to these puffed rice factories as part of the city corporation review.
What struck him was the area’s all pervading sense of “blackness”, Suresh Kumar said.