Former corporator shows way to end child labour

RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: At the tender age of eight, Barre Kondababu was toiling in a stone quarry. He was the only support for his pregnant mother, who walked out of home with her two little sons, unable to bear harassment by her drunk husband from Tuni, which is 100 km away from Rajamahendravaram in East Godavari district.His enrolment in school was only a formality. Life was cruel to him as he was confined to the stone quarry for half the day. 

“Pedda Bala Siksha was the only book available to me. I read it thoroughly and learnt the values of life. I learnt that we should believe in what we do,” he says, while narrating his life’s journey with tears rolling down his eyes.As a child worker, he not only went through the untold ordeals, but also witnessed how the lives of the poor never mattered in the inhuman conditions in quarries.

As he grew up, he started to fight against child labour in the quarries. He bore the brunt of the quarry owners and the anger of the police. He, however, became a ray of hope for many fellow workers, who used to share their problems with him.  “What gives me satisfaction even today is my efforts in ensuring that no worker here sends their children to quarries. Instead, their kids are going to schools. Because of the  good education, I provided to my three children, they are now leading a good life,” he shares happily.

He says child labour laws failed to deliver. They confined only to paper. Kondababu was initially attracted towards Left-Wing Extremism and even floated a trade union and led the movement against the quarry owners. He mobilised thousands of quarry workers to fight for minimum wages and implementation of welfare and safety laws. 

“I was tortured and beaten up by the police mercilessly. Quarry owners colluded with the then ruling government and made attempts to suppress the movement between 1983 and 1994. My wife, mother, brother and sister were subjected to mental agony,” he recalls. Disillusioned with the Left ideology, he left the trade union but continued the agitation for the welfare and rights of quarry workers. “In 1992, I raised the slogan of ‘Panichese Vaadide quarry’ (quarry belongs to those who work in it) and this obviously resulted in suppressive actions from quarry contractors and police,’’ he narrated. 

Kondababu says his dream is to see Rajamahendravaram as a child labour-free city.He used to visit the slum areas of quarry workers regularly and see their children go to schools. “There are three big quarries in twin Godavari districts. I will not allow the workers to send their children to quarries,’’ he said.“There is an urgent need to put concerted efforts to combat child labour, end violence against children and strengthen systems for the protection of children,’’ Kondababu says.