VELLORE: Vellore hopes to become the first child labour-free district in the State, as the rate of child labourers in the district came down drastically in the past few years.As many as 36 children were rescued in the district, from child labour, since April 2010 under the National Child Labour Programme(NCLP). The NLCP was introduced in the district in 1995, after a survey in Vellore, which reported 15,241 child labourers in the district. Since then, an average of 3,000 children, both child labourers and non-school going children were rescued every year.Rajapandian, Vellore Project Director, NCLP, said, “The rescued children, were subjected to various physical tests and were produced in the court after identifying their age. Later thay are admitted to special training centres for child labourers”. “There are 61 training centres in the district. 190 personnel including teachers, vocational teachers, clerks, field officers and helpers work under the pro gramme”,Rajapandian added. As of now, 1,565 children are studying in these centres, while 14,180 children, are put in the mainstream, after class five. Some dropouts are rescued, are admitted to the same schools. 34 students, who were rescued in the early days of implimentation, are now studying in various Engineering and Arts Colleges in Vellore and Kancheepuram districts.The rescued are given a monthly stipend of Rs 150. Besides this, the government gives Rs 5,000 to each child, while he/she is rescued. This amount is being deposited in their names. A fund of Rs 13,53,000 has been spent by the government on the rehabilitation of these hapless children.Rajapandian said that , 105 raids were conducted this year, in which 36 children were rescued. The number may go up in the coming months. The process of conducting a raid and rescuing a child, involves many departments such as labour, factories, education, health and revenue. So far,11 cases have been filed in the court against owners of business establishments, who employed children and nine of the establishments have been sealed. Sealing the business establishments takes place nowhere else in the state otherthan Vellore, he said.The district administration has shown interest in making the district child labourer-free. So far, Rs 2,25,000 have been collected as fine from the owners of the shops including Rs 20,000 fine as per the court order. “ Initiative to make the district child labour-free has led to success in Kaniyambadi area, as the then district collector announced the place as ‘child-labourer-free’ in the year 2009-2010. This was achieved after stringent action on the parents of the children”.“Even after sending several notices and advise to send children to school, the parents never listened to us. And so we seized around 56 ration cards and returned it after they sent their children to schools”, Rajapandian pointed out. Most of the children work in welding shops, brick kilns, match factories and beedi-making factories.“Apart from Tamil children, we rescued children from the Northern states. They are taken to boarding school in Ariyur and kept there for few days before being sent to their native.
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