‘He was here to study, but died a victim of child labour’

The World Federation of Trade Union (WFTU) has condemned the death of child labourer Sharanabasappa, 16, who died while working with his parents at a construction site in Sadashivanagar
on Friday.

The WFTU’s (hospitality sector) South Asia vice-president GR Shivashankar said that the culprits should not go scot-free. “We will not let them sleep until the entire social-security sector wakes up to this tendency of making children the scapegoats. We want provident fund organisation, employees’ state insurance and the comatose state labour department to wake up and take stringent action against Guruprasad Constructions. The builder had failed to adopt proper safety measures at the work site,” Shivashankar said.

“The main culprit is a former chief minister, who granted the contract of constructing the swimming pool in his premises to the contractor. There is a vicarious liability on him. The authorities, for all these days, had turned a blind eye to the warnings and the happenings in the city where children are made scapegoats,” he said.

Reiterating his stand earlier — DNA had published under an article titled ‘A summer spent camping in hotels’ on April 29 — he said there are as many as 5,000 children employed in various business establishment for washing dishes and doing odd jobs.

“I am shocked our children are employed even in the construction industry. There have been numerous legislations and amendments to the laws that prevent them from being employed at hazardous jobs like these,” he said.

He questioned the government’s earnestness in banning child labour. “I have been hearing of the ban on child labour in the state for years, with the labour department having spent several crores on staff to book cases against establishments employing child labourers. But it is all a waste as the parents of Sharanabasappa will be paid a paltry sum of ¤1 lakh towards compensation. What happens to the contractor and the owner of the building who awarded the contract to those who do not even hold a proper licence to take up contracts of such massive constructions,” he asked.

He said he had taken up the issue of child labour, a pet subject for government’s empty promises, but nothing had come out of it yet.

“I find the labour department hand-in-glove with the hotel managements and other establishments who employ these children,” he added.

Shivashankar, who also holds the post of national president with the Trade Union Coordination Centre (TUCC), pointed out that there are several departments that look after the rights of the children but none have really come forward to stop the menace.

“The poor boy was here to pursue his studies; his untimely death is the loss of a bright, future citizen,” he added.