Crime

Negi finds 90 suspected child labourers working in Selaqui factory

In an inspection of a factory in Selaqui by the chairperson of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) Usha Negi, the commission found out that several child labourers were brought there by agents from several different places of the nearby states.

After a recent raid in a tubelight and LED lights assembling factory in Selaqui area of Dehradun by some Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the authorities, Negi inspected the factory on Thursday. The commission suspected that there were about 94 children who appeared to be underage and the management of the factory had also tried to hide most of them in canteen and bathrooms too, said Negi. According to her, the factory management has even made Aadhar cards of these children with purportedly fake dates of birth to show them as adults as the birthdays of most of these children fall on January 1 which is suspicious. The commission also informed that some workers also told the members of the child welfare committee (CWC) that they are presently 19 years old and are working in the factory for over two years but their age is 23 years old in Aadhaar card. According to the officials, most of the child labourers in the factory were girls who belong to the places like Bareilly, Lakhimpur and Pilibhit in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. While some children live with their parents here, others live in a rented room in groups of three to four people as they get very fewer wages, said Negi. Four children talked to CWC who were below 18 years as per their documents too and the age of the remaining 90 children who are suspected to be minors too will be verified through the school documents which will be asked to make available by their respective district authorities, informed Negi.

Moreover, there are about 700 women workers out of total 1,300 workers who work in the factory but no proper facility like clean toilets is made available for them, said the officials. The officials added that there were several other anomalies in the factory too for which Negi will soon call the management of the factory in the commission. 

Friday, 27 November 2020 | PNS | Dehradun

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