Adil Lateef
SRINAGAR, Feb 26: In absence of adequate staff, the Labour Department has failed to keep a check on child labour in Kashmir valley as they hardly inspect work places to check this practice.
Sources in the Department revealed that the concerned officials including Labour officers and inspectors in all districts do not inspect the work establishments and mostly get struck in the office work or they simply don’t do field work.
Several officials of the department who spoke to Excelsior on the condition of the anonymity admitted that there is shortage of officers and ground staff. “There is shortage of officers as well as ground staff. The shortage can be gauged by the fact that some of the districts including Srinagar and Ganderbal are being headed by one officer, who otherwise has to see only one district,” they said.
With the staff shortage, the Department fails to keep check on the child labour in the Valley and summer capital Srinagar in particular. The department even has not maintained data of the prosecuted cases and the complaints it receives.
“The inspection cannot be done by one or two persons. We need a full-fledged team but there is no such arrangement. The Government needs to increase the manpower of this department so that we too can do our work accordingly,” lamented an officer of the Labour Department.
According to Child Line – a project sponsored by Ministry of Women and Child Development– there are nearly 700 child labours in Srinagar city at present. The project coordinator, Dr Shabir Ahmad, told Excelsior that though they are working since 2011 in Srinagar only but the highest number of child labours are in Budgam district of Valley.
He admitted the fact that the staff shortage in Labour Department is hampering the check on child labour. “We know that the way work should have been done is not being done like inspections of establishments,” said Dr Shabir, adding that they are ready to assist the Department if their services are sought.
Not only the staff shortage has hit the check on child labour practice but it is one of the reasons for the non-implementation of National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme. The NCLP – which was implemented in Srinagar and Udhampur in 1996 – is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme meant for rehabilitation of the child labours but it has failed to take off in rest of the State due to staff shortage which would conduct survey.
A top official of the Labour Department while admitting the staff crunch said the Government should take steps to increase the man power of the department by employing more staff.
Asked why existing staff isn’t inspecting working establishments, he said: “Whenever we receive any information about the practice of child labour, we visit that establishment and take action accordingly. We don’t sit silent but we do take action but ultimately the matter goes in court and to be very honest the courts often show leniency towards the persons who force children into labour.”
The department officials pointed out towards “flaws” in the existing Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act 1986, saying it hampers their fight against the practice as certain technicalities like establishing a father and his son are sharing an employee-employer relation. “It is a challenge for us,” they added.
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