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Rescued, but no rehabilitation
A brazen and daring act of rescuing child labourers from the Old City lacks follow-up and effective rehabilitation resulting in exposing the children to continued vulnerability. On one hand, the police claims that it is getting ready for another leg of ‘cordon and search’ operation in other localities of the Old City to unearth the child labour,
Many kids brought back with different names as bonded labourers
Hyderabad: A brazen and daring act of rescuing child labourers from the Old City lacks follow-up and effective rehabilitation resulting in exposing the children to continued vulnerability. On one hand, the police claims that it is getting ready for another leg of ‘cordon and search’ operation in other localities of the Old City to unearth the child labour, but on the other shocking details have emerged that 20-30% of the children who were rescued recently are those who were earlier rescued and had been brought back by traffickers to work as bonded labour in the same bangle-manufacturing units in Hyderabad.
Worrying that they are often held back in the clutches of trafficking because their families are impoverished, the Telangana Labour Department is now coordinating with its counterpart in other states and ensuring better rehabilitation for these rescued children before they are handed over to their families.
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With a little hope that these incidents can be curbed, an official at the Hyderabad Government Boys Home says that a few boys brought to the home this time were children who were earlier rescued and sent back six months ago. These children have come back to the same employers and are working in the same place again. The big question now is will it happen again.
Another official says that out of the few children rescued recently was 11-year-old Afzal, who along with his friends, was rescued and sent back to Bihar in June last year. He and his friends had landed in the same bonded labour dens in less than six months. The children do not admit they were rescued and brought back and surprisingly they say they have been in the city only a few weeks ago. “They might have been threatened not to reveal the length of their stay, they even tell different names,” added the official.
A member of the Hyderabad Child Welfare Committee says the children have a long way to go, before they can find their childhood, if at all. Stressing on the need for vigilant checks by the police, the official said, “In many cases, the children are forced to work long hours under hazardous conditions. Often they are not paid and go missing, and their families are unable to track them down. We don't want that to happen again.
This time we are going to ensure there is rigorous monitoring and tracking of these children for at least a year.” It is extreme poverty that drives these children back to the city in search of employment to fend for their families. This also highlights parents’ willingness in handing over children to traffickers for the wages they promise in return. To bridge these gaps the focus should now be on tracking down the strong network of traffickers and agents
By:Navatha Y
