Nearly a hundred bonded labourers, mostly children between 9-18 years, were rescued on Saturday morning in raids conducted on 25 jewellery manufacturing units in Karol Bagh area of Central Delhi.
Most of the children hailed from Bengal.
They were rescued in a joint operation of the Labour Department, police and an NGO “Bachpan Bachao Andolan” (BBA) under the supervision of Sub-Divisional Magistrate S L Gupta, according to sources.
Public  support
Slamming lack of public support during such raids, BBA head Kailash Satyarthi said that only 93 of the nearly 1,000 children working in illegal jewellery making units in Karol Bagh’s Regarpura area could be rescued on Saturday. “Rest were sent off by the unit owners, despite the presence of large number of officials and policemen, as soon as the raids took place.” The rescued children — 90 from West Bengal, two from Bihar and one from Rajasthan — have been sent to “Mukti Ashram” situated in Burari village and we are trying to get them rehabilitated under the prevailing law, he said.
“Of these, 57 were below 14 years of age and the rest 36 were below 18 years.”
More than two dozen officials of the Labour Department accompanied the police team and the NGO in the operation.