Centre seeks report on child labour at potato farms in Kapurthala

Aparna Banerji
Jalandhar, April 10

Taking cognisance of the rescue of 13 children from potato farms at Dishwa Dona village in Kapurthala, following the registration of a case (in Bihar) and a complaint by a Bihar-based man on the issue, the Central Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has intervened in the case and sought swift action from the Kapurthala DC.

The ministry has sought action and deputation of a team to trace the remaining children. An action taken report has also been sought in five days.

Not aware of order

The report suggests children are not bonded labour as they worked of own free will. Their medical report is expected tomorrow. I am not aware of Centre’s directions. — Deepti Uppal, Kapurthala DC

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Trace missing kids

While administration has expressed lack of knowledge of whereabouts of missing children, we have asked them to trace kids at the earliest. A report has also been sought. — Manoj Chouhan, Member, CSMC, PMAGY

In a communiqué to the Kapurthala DC on April 8, Manoj Chouhan, member, Central Streering-cum-Monitoring Committee (CSMC), wrote: “As a member of the CSMC under the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, we received a complaint of trafficked child labour in your jurisdiction. You are requested to take needful action as per law with immediate effect and depute a senior-level team to trace children and submit action taken report in five days.”

As many as 13 children, all boys — 12 from Bihar and one from Nepal — were rescued from potato farms at the Sidhwa Dona village on April 6.

While a Bihar-based man, Sajan Manjhi, lodged a complaint regarding the presence of his two sons (aged 12 and 14) at the farms, teams of the Bihar police, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) and district (Kapurthala) task force raided the fields on April 6, rescuing 13 boys aged 10 to 16. Manjhi’s sons weren’t among the boys.

However, there has been no progress in the case since then, as no follow-up action could be taken on the weekend. BBA activists and Manjhi have been raising apprehensions that delay in raids may harm prospects of rescue of more children suspected to be at the farms. The BBA also raised the concern in their complaint to the ministry.