134 child labourers rescued in Surat

Surat: In a joint operation with Rajasthan police and an NGO, the local police in Puna area of Surat city of Gujarat today rescued 134 child labourers from more than 20 houses.

The raids were conducted in 20 to 25 houses in and around Sitaram Society on the basis of detailed tip off from Delhi based NGO Bachpan Bachao Aandolan.

Police Inspector of Puna area, Vijaysinh Gadariya said that the raids begun at 6 am this morning. All the 134 rescued children were aged between 10 to 15 years. 125 of them were native of Rajasthan and 9 of other states. They were being used by local businessmen, mostly for works like Zari work, button fitting etc in Saree and ready-made cloths.

The NGO had collected detailed information about the children who were supplied as cheap labourers by brokers.

Meanwhile an official of Rajasthan said that most of the children were from the southern tribal belt of his state and many of them were even orphans. He said that efforts were on to nab the brokers and the employers also.

DeshGujarat