National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has pulled up the Meghalaya government for not having rescued and rehabilitated the 343 child labourers working in coal mines of Jaintia Hills in the state.
A two-member NCPCR team comprising Yogesh Dubey and Vinod Kumar Tikoo visited the state and met the administration officials there to find out about the progress made on certain measures recommended by them during their last year's visit to the state in May.
"During our January visit this year, Labour department had provided us with data confirming that 343 children were engaged as labourers in Jaintia Hills. However, during this meeting they couldn't tell us if the children have been rescued and rehabilitated," Tikoo said.
He said the local officials also could not provide them with the list of children. "The state administration has not taken serious cognisance of the matter," he said.
Dubey said the Commission is "extremely dissatisfied" with the state administration's attitude.
The Commission also slammed the Labour department for its failure to map all vulnerable areas where child labour is prevalent and also questioned the functioning of the district task force, which is supposed to conduct regular inspections.
The Commission now has directed the Labour department to complete the survey to identify children employed in coal mines in Jaintia hills by July 31 and the entire state by August 31.
