Odisha govt to conduct survey on child labourers this year

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, July 12:

Labour and ESI minister Prafulla Kumar Mallick today admitted in the State Assembly that there has been no survey on the number of child labourers in Odisha since 1997.

He said as per the survey, conducted by the field officials of the Labour department in the last five years, a total of 210 children were found working in several hotels and roadside dhabas.

Mallick also informed the House that there has been no survey on the classification of labourers conducted by the Labour department.

However, at present, a total of 3,37,540 labourers, engaged in the construction of buildings and other works, have been registered under the Odisha Buildings and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board.

He, however, said though there has been no mandatory provision for registration of the labourers of the state working outside Odisha, there are rules under the Inter State Non-resident Labourers Act, 1979, under which the concerned contractors, while taking more than five labourers for work outside the state, have to obtain license from the concerned district labour officers.

In the last 10 years, 3144 contractors have been issued license to take a total of 1,28,349 labourers for work in other states.

The Labour department has initiated action against 429 contractors in gross violation of the Act, Mallick said in reply to a question by Prafulla Majhi.