Officials of Labour Department, along with District Child Labour Prohibition team, has found two children and 10 adolescents employed as labourers during inspections held in hotels, shops, industries and construction sites since January 25.
In a statement, Assistant Commissioner of Labour -Enforcement Myvizhi said the joint inspections were conducted under provisions of Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 and following complaints received over Child Line.
Consequently, four first information reports have been registered by the police against those who had employed the child (less than 14 years of age) and adolescent (14 years of age to less than 18 years of age) labourers.
The statement said that Right to Education Act had made getting education for all children a basic right. Complaints can be lodged over ‘1098 Child Line’ and pencil.gov.in against those who employ people below 18 years of age without having completed their school or skill-development training.
No children should be employed in any kind of work and those in adolescent age should not be engaged in dangerous work. The maximum punishment for violating this would be ₹50,000 fine or two years of jail or both. Besides, the parents, who sent their children for work would face a fine of ₹10,000.
Only 100% prevention of school dropout could ensure prohibition of child labour, she said.
Published - March 13, 2025 06:08 pm IST
