BHUBANESWAR : Street vendors will now have to submit an undertaking on not employing child labourers for getting their licence in the state.
The State Urban Development Agency (SUDA) under Housing and Urban Development department mandated this on Wednesday on the basis of suggestions made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour, Textiles and Skill Development on ‘National Policy on Child Labour: An Assessment’.
The committee, which submitted its report in December last year, has suggested special attention to be paid to street vendors employing child labour. Headed by MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, the committee assessed the child labour scenario with representatives of 10 ministries, NCPCR and eight state governments including Odisha over the last two years.
It found a considerable number of children are either being employed by street vendors or are directly vending on the roads. In a letter to commissioners of all municipal corporations, executive officers of municipalities and NACs, SUDA project director Sarada Prasad Panda on Wednesday asked them to seek the undertaking from street vendors on not employing children below the age of 14, at the time of issuing certificate of vending or licence of vending to them.