Child Labourers rescued

PATNA (BIHAR): Mohammad Sajjad had dreamt of becoming a cricketer. His idol: Irfan Pathan. Destiny, however, landed him at a railway overbridge construction site at Ara. His job involved carrying sandbags and stone chips, weighing about 40 kg, over his head, 6 to 6. He is only 13.

During the 12-hour strenuous duty, he would get only an hour-long break in the noon for lunch. Sometimes, during nights too, he would be awakened by the contractor concerned to do some urgent duty. Sajjad, an illiterate, hails from a village in Dinajpur in West Bengal.

Thirteen-year-old Sanni Kumar, a Musahar boy from Kasap village in Bhojpur district, was studying in class IX when he was forced to take up the hazardous job at the same site, though this was not the world he had dreamt of. He wanted to become a teacher.

The dreams of these young boys were crushed under the weight of construction materials which they were forced to carry over their heads from one place to another under the scorching sun and vulture-like eyes of supervisors who would abuse and beat them up on the slightest provocation.

They were promised Rs 40 a day as wage, but were paid only Rs 15. Ironically, these child labourers had been employed by the Bihar State Bridge Construction Corporation, a state government undertaking, through contractors.

Sajjad and Sanni were among the 11 child labourers, who were rescued on 4th May 2006 in a joint raid and rescue operation by Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) and labour department.

Under the Child Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1986, and according to a Supreme Court verdict, any corporation or agency, if found guilty of employing child labourers, is liable to pay Rs 20,000 per child.

Release certificates were given to these child labourers by the local administration which would help them in their proper rehabilitation.

Source: www.bba.org.in