Shravasti District Magistrate chairs task force meeting on child labour elimination

District Magistrate Annapurna Garg chaired a meeting of the District Level Task Force organised by the Labour Department at the collectorate auditorium in Shravasti. The meeting discussed agenda points related to the District Child Labour Elimination Committee and the District Level Task Force, focusing on gram panchayats with negligible child labour that could be declared child labour-free.

Officials informed the meeting that proposals had been received from the Village Child Welfare and Protection Committee and Block Welfare and Protection Committee to declare 83 gram panchayats across five blocks in Shravasti district as child labour-free. These proposals were presented before the District Task Force for consideration and approval.

The District Magistrate directed that amongst the proposed gram panchayats, those where child labourers have been found during the current financial year should undergo an intensive child labour enforcement campaign for the next one month with proper monitoring and re-verification. Only after such campaigns confirm the complete absence of child labourers should those gram panchayats be declared child labour-free, she instructed.

The District Magistrate also issued directions to various departments including Labour, Education, Women and Child Welfare, Health, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj to coordinate efforts for rescuing child labourers from work and covering them under various departmental schemes.

The meeting was attended by Additional District Magistrate (Finance/Revenue) Lalit Kumar, Additional Superintendent of Police Chandrakesh Singh, Chief Medical Officer Dr A.K. Singh, Area Magistrate Bhinga, District Probation Officer, all Sub-Divisional Magistrates, District Basic Education Officer, all Tehsildars, all Block Development Officers, all Assistant Development Officers, all Block Education Officers, Child Welfare Committee members, Child Protection Officer, AHTU, Dehaat India organisation and other members of the District Child Labour Elimination Committee and District Level Task Force.