SHILLONG, JUNE 4: The state labour department came under fire as the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) said it has completely failed to implement directives of ensuring that the child labour in Meghalaya is tackled effectively to ensure that the minors are not employed in hazardous working conditions stipulated by laws.
Peeved at the Meghalaya’s labour department’s lethargic approach to the issue relating to child labour, the NCPCR members have directed the state government to embark upon comprehensive child labour surveys in all the districts of Meghalaya to strategize plans in eliminating the problem of child labour.
However, the commission said its visit to Meghalaya could be deemed as successful as the state government has agreement to incorporate its recommendations for amending the state mining policy to ensure child ‘friendly’ policy.
After the review meeting with the state government officials, NCPCR member Yogesh Dube told reporters on Tuesday, “The labour department is buying time and has failed in handling the issue concerning child labour, especially in coal rich Jaintia hills district,”
The commission members and the state government officials including the chief secretary and principal secretaries of labour, home and mining department held a review meeting on Monday.
Dube lamented that the Meghalaya labour department has not fully complied with the commission’s earlier recommendations and said, ”The approach of the principal secretary of labour to the issue of child labour is dissatisfactory and lethargic which shows that department is not taking serious note of the matter.”
Dube said that the commission has directed the principal secretary to draw an action plan as to how the child labour survey would be done. The principal secretary has been asked to submit the action plan for Jaintia hills within July 31 while for the other districts of the state within August 31.
According to Dube the labour department has agreed to conduct a child labour survey in Meghalaya corroborating with reputed institutes like NEHU, IIM and MLCU in which officials from the department and civil societies would also be part of the exercise.
Saying that the commission is keen in getting all the data of child labour in Meghalaya, Dube said, “The data provided by the survey would further help in developing strategies to eliminate child labour from the state as well as bringing those children to the mainstream and schools.”
Observing that Meghalaya is to have with enough labour inspectors to tackle and ensure that no child is engaged in any coal mining activities, the commission has directed the state government to recruit more manpower for the field work.
The Labour department informed that the proposal of the 39 labour inspectors are yet to be filled but assured the commission that 10 labour inspectors would be recruited within a week time while the remaining would be appointed in the next few months.
The commission also complained of the failure of the labour department h to map all vulnerable areas where child labour is highly prevalent. Dube said, “Though in paper the department claim to done the work but it failed to produce what are the areas which have been mapped as vulnerable before the commission. – By Our Reporter
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