Six child labourers rescued from restaurant, tea centre

Surat: The district child labour task force including the labour department, anti-human trafficking cell and the city police on Wednesday rescued six child labourers employed in a tea centre and a restaurant from Katargam and Udhana area.

Official sources said the task force team had received information about the tea centre and the restaurant employing child labourers. A joint team of anti-human trafficking, labour department, NGO and the police raided Udhana and Katargam areas.

Sources said that the tea centre owned by Karamatullah Shaikh at Hodi Bungalow in Katargam and Srinath Purohit, owner of Chamunda Restaurant at Udhana, were raided and six labourers in the age group of 6 years to 12 years were rescued.

The rescued child labourers were made to work for 10 to 12 hours and that they were paid between Rs 6,000 and Rs 8,000 per month. Out of the six children rescued, three are from Rajasthan, two from West Bengal and one from Uttar Pradesh.

Assistant labour commissioner Ashish Gandhi told TOI: “We rescued six child labourers. The children have been handed over to VR Popawala Children Home for boys in Katargam.”