331 child workers rescued in 20-21, says DCPCR

New Delhi: The Delhi Commission For Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) facilitated the rescue of 331 child labourers from factories, bakery units, etc. in 2020-21 as against 202 in the preceding three years, it said in a statement on Wednesday. This is an increase of nearly 490 per cent, displaying the DCPCR’s renewed commitment to eliminating child labour in Delhi, it said. The DCPCR has been involved in rescue operations of 331 children in 2020-21. In the preceding three years, the DCPCR had facilitated rescue operations of 202 children overall, the child rights body said in its statement. This is an increase of nearly 490 per cent displaying DCPCR’s renewed commitment to eliminating child labour from Delhi, it said. Children of different age groups were rescued with the help of several agencies from different places including factories, bakery units, auto centre units, as well as residential colonies where they were working as domestic help, the DCPCR said. In most of the cases, these children were not paid minimum wages, had inordinately long working hours and unhygienic working conditions, it noted. “The menace of child labour can be curbed only through citizen reporting and therefore we strongly encourage citizens to report instances of child labour on DCPCR’s WhatsApp number (9599001855),” said DCPCR chairperson Anurag Kundu. The DCPCR has an incentive scheme to encourage citizens to report. For each instance reported and child rescued successfully, it awards a cash prize of `1,000. Citizens can win up to `10,000 for reporting child labour, the statement said.