NEW DELHI: On Tuesday morning, 11-year-old Ankit (name changed) walked past the filth on a congested street to join other boys like him at a factory in Badli industrial area in northwest Delhi. At 9 am, work was in full swing as the boys toiled, using their tender fingers smeared with machine oil for fixing motors in coolers much in demand in the hot Delhi weather. He belongs to a village in Uttar Pradesh and came to Delhi six months back with a middleman in search of work. His poor parents were promised a monthly income that he is not aware of. The child was made to work 12 hours a day with Rs 100 given as solace once a week and half a day's relief from the drudgery on Sunday.

But Tuesday was different. A day marked by mixed emotions for the 58 children rescued in a raid by the area SDM, labour officials and police, based on a complaint by Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), on the eve of the World Day Against Child Labour . Fifty-six boys were rescued from four factories engaged in making coolers and their parts while the two girls were freed from a spoon factory. The rescue operations were carried out at five different factories and at a placement agency running under the garb of an NGO.

When the raiding teams arrived, they were surprised to find the children missing. A close inspection revealed that the boys were hidden in cartons meant for coolers.

Frightened and unsure of what lay ahead, the rescued children looked apprehensive when TOI joined them. Most of the boys told tales of abject poverty and how they were working for survival. Nearly all wanted to go to school and have a better future but were unsure how the government would assure that.

Most of these child labourers had been trafficked from West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh after their parents were paid an advance. The girls belonged to Uttar Pradesh.

A 14-year-old boy from Etah in UP said his father was a daily wager and could not afford his education. So he came to Delhi during the summer vacations and was employed at a factory to be able to buy his books. He said he wanted to return home to his parents.

While the employers were arrested and booked, a statement from BBA said the SDM present during the rescue operation refused to declare the children as bonded labourers citing logistical compulsions of appearing during the trial. This way the children were denied a comprehensive rehabilitation package under Bonded Labour System Abolition Act 1976.

BBA revealed that in 2010 and 2011, only 1,592 employers were convicted for employing child labourers, which works out to one employer per district per year, showing a blatant disregard for the guidelines of Supreme Court. It also pointed that in a period of five years (2007-2011), 12,55,987 inspections were conducted but only 17,884 violations detected and 4,263 people convicted.

