Erode district officials on Monday rescued 27 child labourers, 17 of them boys and 10 girls, from a spinning mill at Rajagopal Thottam in Karungalpalayam.
Erode Mayor Malliga Paramasivam, on a tip-off from AIADMK ward 56 secretary RAN Thangavel, alerted DRO S Ganesh, who visited the spot in a residential area and found over 60 workers mostly teenagers employed there.
Initial investigations revealed that 17 boys and 10 girls, who were below 14 years of age, but claimed to be above 14, were employed in the unit owned by one Sureshkumar. Three other persons - Karuppasamy of Karungalpalayam, Senthil of Nasiyanur and Manikandan of Manikkampalayam - were running the unit on lease.
The unlicensed unit has spinning, twisting and winding divisions and the workers were staying in six rooms. Food and snacks were provided to the labourers, who had to work from 8 am to 8 pm in shifts.
Most of the children belonged to Dharmpuri and Krishnagiri and many of them told the DRO that their parents had left them at the unit as they were poor.
When the DRO asked the kids if they were subjected to harassment, they replied in the negative. They also denied when asked if their parents had left them in the unit after taking an advance.
The DRO said that action would be taken against the unit holders and added that the role of middlemen in bringing the children there would be probed.
Thangavel said that though his house was close by the unit, he had come to know only some days ago that child labourers were employed there. The children used to be brought in a closed vehicle and the unit’s main gate remained closed always. The unit was functioning for the past four years, he said.
