Cases of child selling come to fore
JOWAI: One of the major consequences of the NGT ban on coal mining is that several non-indigenous coal labourers in Jaintia Hills are either abandoning their children or selling them.
During a visit to various areas of Jaintia Hills on Wednesday, a group of journalists learnt that there are many non-tribal coal labourers, who have been forced to leave their children at the mercy of others even as there are many who are selling their children for a small amount of money.
A case in point is that of a coal labourer from Assam who gave his four year old girl child to a woman in Lad Rymbai since he can no longer take care of her since he is out of job.
“He (coal labourer) came to my house and requested me to take his child as he was going back with his two elder sons to Assam. I know this coal labourer since he used to come to the market at Lad Rymbai,” Nosha Mukhim told newsmen.
She also said that besides being out of job, the coal labourer was not able to take care of his children on his own since his wife had also expired.
“I could not say no. I agreed to take care of the child,” said Mukhim.
Since she does not know the name of the girl, the woman named her as “Lucy”.
When asked if the child was looking for her father, the lady said that she never asked about her father and she was very happy with her.
The woman also informed that she has learnt that there are many coal labourers who are selling their children for a small amount.
“I heard that a family sold their two children for a meager amount of Rs 15000. It is sad that this sort of unfortunate incident is taking place,” Mukhim added.