Rampant violation of the Child Labour (Prohibition And Regulation) Act, 1986, in Munger, Lakhisarai and Sheikhpura has failed to wake the government up from its slumber.
Instead, labour department officials claimed that there had been a sharp decline in the cases of child labour. The claims, however, fell flat when The Telegraph visited these places and witnessed child labourers working almost everywhere.
Take the case of Mohammad Sarfraz (12), a son of a rickshaw puller. The little soul earns for his family by working at a cycle repairing shop. “I work for around 11 hours a day and it is a necessity because there are nine members in my family and my father’s meagre income is not sufficient for us,” he said. Sarfaraz earns Rs 50 a day after working for 11 hours.
The boy is a school dropout, as his family couldn’t afford to continue his studies.
Labour department officials, however, claimed that efforts were being made to rescue all such children from the clutches of their employers. According to an official report, 73 child labourers were rescued in Munger division in 2013-14 and 21 kids have been rescued in the current fiscal so far.
Munger division is an administrative geographical unit of Bihar. Munger is the administrative headquarters of the division. The division consists of Munger, Jamui, Khagaria, Lakhisarai and Sheikhpura districts.
The assistant commissioner of the labour department, Aditya Rajhans, said the department was determined to act tough against those employing children below 14 year of age and cases would be lodged against them. He added: “Legal notices had been sent to 31 such employers and action against them would be initiated soon. The department has also constituted a task force to nail all such employers who were violating the law.”
According to the provisions of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, employment of children below 14 years is prohibited. Those violating the act can be imprisoned up to one year and fined Rs 10,000, which could go up to Rs 20,000.
A repeat offence would attract imprisonment up to two years, said a source in the department.
