Child labour to be eradicated by 2010: Maharashtra to HC

Mumbai, May 01: There would be no child labour in Maharashtra by 2010, state government has assured the Bombay High Court. The assurance was given by the govenment in an affidavit filed a few days ago. The affidavit by labour officer Vishwas Jadhav was filed in response to a suo-motu petition by the High Court following media reports of death of a child labourer due to ill-treatment in an embroidey unit in 2005. Jadhav states that a task force, chaired by Commisioner of Labour, was set up in 2005 to meet the objective of eradication of child labour. Since then, 2,287 child labourers had been rescued in Mumbai and neighbouring Thane following 87 raids and arrest of 516 employers. As for the raids in the rest of the state, 3,089 child labourer were rescued after 735 raids and 827 arrests of employers. Jadhav said after the task force swung into action many employers on their own sent back the children to their native places. "As many as 23,483 child labourers were sent back to their respectve native places," the affidavit states. Bureau Report
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