26 child bonded labourers rescued in Hyderabad

The rescued children, including girls aged between 15 and 17 years, were from Telangana, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

Hyderabad: In yet another major rescue operation, the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Rachakonda Police rescued 26 children from bonded labour at various workshops across the city here late on Tuesday.

Four persons who engaged them for work were arrested.

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The rescued children, including girls aged between 15 and 17 years, were from Telangana, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. One minor boy from them was counseled by officials and returned to his family.

The children were rescued as part of Operation Smile-VII in Rachakonda, when the AHTU along with members of the District Child Protection Unit and Labour Department jointly raided several workshops in Bhongir.

Officials first raided a samosa-making shop at Urban Colony and rescued two children and arrested its owner B Venkat Reddy for engaging them for work under harmful conditions. He was paying Rs 50 to each child for making 100 samosas. As regular workers did not agree to work for such low wages, he had employed children.

In another incident, officials raided Yadadri Traders involved in cleaning liquor bottles at IDA in Bhongir Town and rescued six girls from Chhattisgarh apart from arresting P Veeranna Goud and Vikas Kumar for engaging them to work.

They had brought the children from Chhattisgarh and were forcing them to work for more than 10 hours a day by paying a mere 25 paise per bottle for washing bottles.

About 13 child labourers, including a girl, were rescued from Maruthi Polymers, which manufactures air coolers at IDA in Bhongir. These children were trafficked from West Bengal, Bihar and Chhattisgarh and made to work under hazardous conditions.

One person Ch Bapu Reddy from Bhongir was arrested while in a separate incident, four children were rescued from SSR Foam industry and concrete labour workshops in Bhongir.

Officials said some poor families were sending children for work as they had no other income. “Taking advantage of this, the suspects induced the parents by paying a sum in advance and procured the children,” police said.

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