KRISHNAGIRI: A total of 38 children and adults were rescued from a flower nursery and a poultry farm in Thalli and Kelamangalam blocks in a special drive held by the Krishnagiri district administration on Thursday. A case was filed under the Child Labour Act against the nursery farm owner.
A member of the drive said, “Krishnagiri Collector C Dinesh Kumar formed four special teams, each comprising seven persons, five from revenue, police, forest, labour and child protection departments and two from Adhiboomi Charitable Trust (ACT). The four teams conducted a special drive at 41 places in Thalli and Kelamangalams of Krishnagiri district on Thursday. During the drive, they found 26 children, including school dropouts and 12 adults engaged in work; most from Krishnagiri district in tribal places like Bettamugilalam and Tholuvabetta and a few were from Uttar Pradesh. Most of them are class 9 and 10 dropouts from non-tribal and Irular tribe communities.”
“Five girl children from Tholuvabetta in Bettamugilalam panchayat dropped out of school at class 9 citing lack of bus facilities, and they worked in the flower nursery. Similarly, six children aged between 12 and 15 worked in two nurseries near Agalakottai.”
Sources added that wages ranged from Rs 250 to Rs 300 per person at different nurseries, and that sometimes, owners sent vehicles to the village to pick up and drop the children for labor.
Following the issue, a complaint was filed on Friday against a farm owner, N Jayapal (41) of Thotti village near Denkanikottai by VAO C Basuvaraj (56) for involving two female children aged 12 and 15 from Uttar Pradesh. He was arrested and but released on bail on the same day.
Krishnagiri Child Welfare Committee member, K Mohan Kumar, told TNIE that 26 children were rescued, of whom 17 are female and all of them were sent back to their parents.
Collector C Dinesh Kumar told TNIE, “The special drives will be continued and stern action will be taken against child labour and bonded labour. Steps have been taken to arrange bus facilities to the interiors of tribal villages to avoid school dropouts. Also, more escort facilities for school students were provided by appointing support persons for them for pick-up and drop-off by vehicles.”
Social Security Scheme, Special Deputy Collector, A Abinaya, Adhiboomi Charitable Trust, regional coordinator, U Jagadheeswaran and also a member of the District Vigilance Committee, were also part of the team.
On October 25, TNIE published a report titled, ‘Five Irula children rescued from four - year bonded labour in K’giri,’ explaining how Adhiboomi Charitable Trust (ACT), with the support of Krishnagiri district administration, rescued children from a brick kiln unit near Veppanahalli.
In the article, and in reaction to the incident, the collector promised to conduct more such drives to rescue kids across the Krishnagiri district.