Children are cleaning our storm water drains!

Manoj R Nair


Contractors who have got from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) the job of cleaning the city's storm water drains before the monsoon are using children to clean the gutters.

In Ghatkopar, a group of about ten children were engaged in cleaning the gutters along Tansa Pipe Road on Thursday. Obviously, the children have been put on the job because the small frames of their bodies enable them to slip easily into the narrow mouths of the covered drains to collect the silt and garbage.

The children who are between the ages of ten and fourteen said they are being paid Rs 100 for a day's work. One of the children who gave his name as Mohammad Shaikh declined to give his age. When prodded, the boy who looked twelve or thirteen years old said that he was eighteen. Before he could speak any more to this paper, he was called away by the overseers employed by the contractors.

The other children too were warned not to speak and the supervisors declined to give the name of the firm doing the work.

The BMC has been cleaning storm water gutters that drain rain water. This year, between Rs 30 to 35 crore are being spent on the job.

Chief engineer (SWD) S S Korlekar said that contracts for cleaning storm water drains along roads were given by the local ward offices. "Child labour cannot be used for such work. I do not know how the work was given to children," he said. The ward officer of N Ward that includes Ghatkopar was not available for a comment.

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 prohibits employment of children. Dr Shaila Mhatre, chairperson of the Maharashtra state Child Welfare Committee said that while the contractor could be prosecuted for hiring children, even the BMC can be accused of employing minors indirectly. "The BMC should cancel the contracts of firms that employ children in civic work. When we are so vocal about child labour, the BMC should have specified in their contracts that children should not be hired," said Mhatre.

What the labour commission says

It is ridiculous that government departments should engage child labour. Even if the children are employed by contractors, BMC can be held responsible as they are the principal employer. In this case, the children may be employed without BMC's knowlege because if civic officials had known, they wouldn’t have allowed contractors to hire children. Children are being employed because they can be paid less. Otherwise, there is no shortage of labour in Mumbai. This is not the first time government contractors have been found hiring children. - B D Sanap, state labour commissioner
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