Demands in LS for total abolition of child labour

New Delhi, Feb 25: Total abolition of child labour, strict monitoring on the issue of BPL cards and doing away with the mandatory use of iodised salt were among several issues raised during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Ranjeeta Ranjan (Congress) made a strong plea that government should ensure that the employment of children in all sectors is banned. She noted that Nobel award winner Kailash Satyarthi has been raising the issue for long.

Bhagwant Mann (AAP) wanted the Centre to ensure strict monitoring on the issue of cards to those who live Below Poverty Line.

Mann said it was being observed in the countryside that local politicians give these cards mostly to their followers who get all the benefits under schemes like the MGNREGA and Indira Awas Yojana despite not being entitled. This leads to a situation where the real needy are not benefitted, he added.

C Gopalkrishnan (AIADMK) said the mandatory use of only iodised salt was playing havoc with the health of people and the same should be done away with. He alleged that the iodised salt was made mandatory to help some big corporates.

K C Venugopal of Congress expressed concern over the draft civil aviation policy which proposes to create only six international hubs in the country, thus limiting the international air traffic to these airports only. This, he alleged, was discriminatory to Kerala as no airport in the state has been included.

He claimed that Kochi airport gets more passenger traffic than Bangalore and Hyderabad airports put together.

PTI