Strict action for non compliance with Child Labour Law:Singhal

New Delhi, Oct 13 (UNI) Delhi Labour Minister Mangat Ram Singhal today said action would be initiated against anyone found employing children as labourers, for domestic work or in factories as per a Central Government law prohibiting child labour, which came into affect earlier this week.

''Ever since the act banning employment of children came into effect, the Delhi government has booked 21 employers under the act, which prescribes a fine of Rs 20,000 and imprisonment of upto one year for those employing children,''Mr Singhal told reporters here on the sidelines of a function to release the logo of the Delhi Child Labour Rehabilitation-cum-Welfare society.

Speaking on the occasion, the Delhi Labour Secretary-cum-Commissioner S M Mazumdar said the logo was dedicated to the child welfare board which was engaged in efforts to abolish child labour in the country.

The Logo is based on a similar statue installed in the lawns of the Supreme Court. The apex court has granted its approval for the use of the logo.

On this occasion, the Labour Minister also released the labour statistics Book 2005, which contains useful data on the Labour Situation in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

The release of the Logo and the Labour statistics book comes closely after the coming into affect of the Central government law banning employment of child labour in the country.

The Law, which came into effect on Tuesday, prohibits employment of children as domestic workers as also in tea shops, dhabas, restaurants etc. This is in addition to the 13 occupations and 57 processes already prohibited under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.

Mr Singhal said the fine amount collected from violators of the Child Labour law would be utilised for the welfare and rehabilitation of the children rescued from the factories employing them.

The Minister said that the state government had set for itself a goal to make Delhi a child friendly city, pursuant to the release of the Delhi Human Development Report 2006 which has set "make Delhi a child-friendly city" as a target.

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