SHILLONG: The State Labour department has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Labour and Employment in April this year for setting up of six national child labour project schools in Jaintia Hills.
This was informed by the Commissioner and Secretary of Labour department, T Dkhar, here on Thursday while reacting to the recent criticism of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCP) on the Labour department’s failure to contain child labour in Meghalaya.
In a statement issued here on Thursday, Dkhar said that several important measures were taken by the department in handling the problem of child labour in the coal mines since the last visit of NCPCR in January this year.
“The Principal Secretary, Labour had met the Joint Secretary of the Labour Ministry recently to follow up on the proposal,” the Commissioner added.
The statement also asserted that the Child Labour Prohibition
and Regulations Rules, 2013 were notified in May this year after it was approved by the Cabinet.
According to Dkhar, the Labour department, despite acute shortage of manpower, has posted two officers – one each in East Jaintia Hills and West Jaintia Hills – in May this year. Instructions have also been issued to field officers to conduct raids and carry out extensive awareness campaigns against child labour, the statement added. The department is also examining a State law to completely ban child labour as mandated by the State Cabinet, Dkhar said.