Collector Sagili Shanmohan said that it is the responsibility of all sections of society to do away with child labour.
The Collector flagged off a rally in the town on the occasion of World Anti-Child Labour Day at Gandhi Bomma Circle on Monday, along with District Legal Services Authority secretary I. Karuna Kumar and Assistant Commissioner of Labour Omkar Rao. to mark the World Anti-Child Labor Day.
Speaking on the occasion, the Collector said that World Anti-Child Labour Day is celebrated on June 12 every year. “It is our responsibility to make the district one hundred per cent free of child labour and it is our duty to raise awareness against the menace. It is illegal to employ children under the age of 14,” he said.
The Collector said that the world has been making steady progress in reducing child labour since the year 2000. “If children under 14 years of age are working, they should be identified and enrolled in schools. It is illegal to employ children as child labor and legal action will be taken against such people. Everyone should make efforts to ensure that children do not drop out of school before the age of 14 and that children should be in school and not at work,” the Collector said.
DLSA secretary Karuna Kumar said that after visiting some tribal areas at the field level, it came to his notice that more Anganwadi centres were needed, and sought the District Collector to take steps to establish Anganwadi centres in the tribal villages.
Later, a human chain was formed and the participants raised slogans against child labour. Assistant Labour Officer Jagadish Babu, Disha SI Naga Chaitanya, CDPO Nirmala, Deputy Chief Inspector of Factories Ramakrishna Reddy, Anwadi workers, and members of voluntary organizations took part in the event.
