Mangalore, August 13: A team headed by Labour Officer Nagesh conducted a surprise raid at a petty snack production unit at Panjimogaru near here on Monday, acting on a tip off against alleged child labour activity.
Four children by name Vignesh S/o Ariavalan, Vignesh S/o Balaji, Ajith Kumar S/o Paluswamy and Karnan S/o Kumaran, all hailing from Tamil Nadu were found working at the snack (chakkuli) production unit.
On enquiry, Paluswamy, another labourer working at the unit said that the house belongs to his son in law and the unit by name M T Sweets is owned by one Tankapandy of Madurai. Paluswamy also claimed that Ajith Kumar was his son and the two of them came to Mangalore just three days ago and are scheduled to return to their village in Usulaimattai near Madurai tomorrow.
Vignesh S/o Arivalan said he has been working at the unit for the past 6 months and is being paid Rs. 1,250 per month while Vignesh S/o Balaji said that he is earning Rs.3,000 monthly.
The team comprising of Senior Labour Inspectors Rajesh Jadhav, Ganesh H P and U R Deshpande, along with Balakrishna of Education Department and police personnel have taken the children to Government Wenlock Hospital to subject them to medical tests in order to ascertain their age. The matter would be placed before the CWC if children are found to be under 14 years of age, Mr. Jadhav said.
Although children said that they had not been subjected to any kind of ill-treatment at the unit, a few locals told mediapersons that the kids had complained to the neighbours about them being given torture during work.
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