Baripada: Brick kilns in various parts of Balasore district are where scores of child labourers from Mayurbhanj are making a beeline to work in squalid conditions. Two teams from Mayurbhanj, formed to trace child labourers aged between 6 and 14, recently took note of the miserable condition of the child labourers during their visit and reported the matter to the district administration.
The administration has launched a drive to free the district of child labourers by rescuing them and later arranging their accommodation and education.
Another aim of the drive is to identify and rescue child labourers, who are migrating outside the district along with their families.
Last Tuesday, eight special teams visited various districts. Two teams were sent to Balasore. One team comprised district child protection officer Mamatamayi Biswal, district coordinator of tribal education (Sarva Sikhya Abhiyan) Sapan Kumar Prusty and a CRCC while the other team comprised Rasgobindapur BEO Rajesh Pradhan and two CRCCs.
The two teams had conducted surveys of migrant families and identified 16 children working there, and aimed to rescue them.
The teams visited 32 brick kilns in Balasore. Officials found 14 child labourers from Mayurbhanj working in 14 brick kilns under Remuna, Jaleswar and Basta. In later phases, the teams identified 52 more child labourers from the district in other brick kilns.
The number of child labourers from Mayurbhanj working in Balasore is expected to go up, as many brick kilns remain unvisited.
Meanwhile, the Mayurbhanj district administration held talks with the Balasore administration, seeking the latter’s help to identify child labourers and rescue them.
District tribal education coordinator (SSA) Sapan Kumar Prusty and district girls’ education coordinator Manas Kumar Swain were slated to visit Balasore Thursday and hold further talks with Balasore administration in this regard.
In the next phase of the rescue drive, as many as 16 teachers and CRCCs of Mayurbhanj and 20 teachers and CRCCs of Balasore will be deployed.
That apart, scores of other children from the district are working in brick kilns of Bhadrak, neighbouring state Jharkhand, Chhatishgarh and Uttar Pradesh, the teams have reported. PNN
