BALANGIR: The district administration recently rescued 20 children engaged at a brick kiln in Hyderabad. As per reports, the children had accompanied their parents who migrated to Andhra Pradesh in search of work. While their parents were working in different industries, the kids were held captive by a labour agent in inhuman conditions.
When rescued, the children were severely malnourished. Though the children migrate with their parents, they are yet to be classified as child labourers under law. As per an estimate by the Migration Information and Resource Centre (MIRC), about 1.5 lakh people migrate from Balangir alone to other States for work. These are mostly semi-skilled workers who are unorganised and exploited in industries like brick kilns.
A study on brick kilns around Hyderabad suggests that 35 per cent of migrants are children, of which 22 per cent are in school going age of 6-14 years. In Balangir, a study found that 38 per cent of the migrants are OBCs, 20 per cent STs and 40 per cent are SCs.