4 child labourers rescued in Odisha

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Four child labourers were rescued from a hotel in Odisha's Ganjam district on Sunday, police said.

The children hailed from Bihar and efforts were on to send them back to their families in Sitamarhi district, they said.

Acting on a tip-off, a raid was carried out at the hotel and the children, in the age group of nine to 14 years, were rescued by officials of the Labour Department, the police and activists of Childline India.

"The children were produced before the district Child Welfare Committee (CWC). As per the directives of the CWC, the children are housed at a child care institution at Sorada," said Childline, Berhampur centre coordinator, Sai Prasad Samal.

Claiming that the children were here for the last several months and lived in hazardous condition, Samal said, they worked for over 12 hours daily.

District Labour Officer (DLO), Berhampur, Babu Charan Patra said, show-cause notice would be issued to the owner of the hotel.

We will issue the show cause to the hotel owner before taking any strong action against him, he said.

Assistant Labour Officer (ALO), Bhanjanagar, Brundaban Sethi recorded the statements of the rescued children.