Share details of rescued child workers: Delhi govt to states

Hundreds of minors are rescued from the clutches of their employers in Delhi and are repatriated to their home states every year. But are these children properly rehabilitated and do they get the financial benefits allotted for them? Atul Mathur reports.

Hundreds of minors are rescued from the clutches of their employers in Delhi and are repatriated to their home states every year. But are these children properly rehabilitated and do they get the financial benefits allotted for them?

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The Delhi government has asked the governments of various states to share the education status of children who worked as labourers and were rescued and repatriated to their home states.

Delhi woman and child development minister Kiran Walia has asked the resident commissioners of seven states - Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Assam and Punjab - to give details of funds sanctioned for the rehabilitation of the rescued children in the last three years.

"Almost 90% child labourers rescued by us come from other states. We want them to be properly repatriated so that they are not trafficked back to Delhi or some other state to work as child labourers again," Walia.

In 2012-2013, 1334 child workers were rescued in Delhi and 1,298 were repatriated with the help of their home states.

Apart from the wages at the place of work, every rescued child gets Rs 25,000 under different heads for his or her rehabilitation. A bonded labourer gets an additional Rs 20,000. The money is transferred through the Delhi government's labour department.

An official of the woman and child welfare department said a part of this money should ideally be spent on the child's education and remaining should be kept for his future.

"But nobody's knows how that money is spent. There is a possibility the child is trafficked back to Delhi and the benefits are enjoyed by his family or some other person," an official said.

Walia said she insisted on developing an inter-state system to track the rescued children. "We have shared the details of child welfare committees working in Delhi with the resident commissioners of these states and have asked them to share contact details of CWCs in their respective states. There should be better coordination between the committees and departments working in this field," Walia said.