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NEW DELHI: In a major crackdown on employment of child labour, a joint team of the State Labour Department, the Delhi police and the non-governmental organisation, Pratham, rescued close to 500 children from illegal zari units in northeast Delhi on Monday.

The operation began around noon and four teams conducted simultaneous raids in the Gonda, Noor-e-Ilahi, Arvind Mohalla and Usmanpur areas. As news of the raids spread, the zari unit owners tipped off one another and fled the scene, threatening the children with dire consequences if they revealed anything about them.

To ensure that they remained untraced, the employers locked several children in abandoned houses, underground workshops and even on the roof of an abandoned government building. Some were sent to schools in the area to mingle with students, said Junned Khan, head of the Pratham Child Labour Team, which spearheaded the operation.

Ravi Kant of the NGO Shakti Vahini, said "A zari unit was operating from the first floor of a school building. The unit owner had school identity cards issued to the children to show them as students. In another unit we found that several children had been hidden under heaps of quilts, while scores were sent to parks in the area to evade detection."

Nevertheless, during the five-hour operation, the team rescued 485 minors. They were taken to the HUDCO's August Kranti Bhawan in Bikaji Cama Place where arrangements for their stay were made.

Rahimullah, rescued from a Gonda embroidery unit, said he was from Motihari district of Bihar and had been working in Delhi for the past several months.

"There were several other boys who were brought here along with me. Now that the police have rescued me, I wish to join my family," he said. He refused to identify the "trafficker" who had brought him here.

Iftikar of Kishanganj in Bihar said his employer did not beat him, as he was a trained `karigar.' "But he would beat up the trainees and even lock them up in rooms if they did not cooperate. We would get two meals a day and work for over 10 hours," he said, asking when he would be taken back home.

The Joint Labour Commissioner, Piyush Sharma, said the Union Labour Ministry had contacted its Bihar counterpart for the repatriation of these children.

"The rehabilitation would be carried out in coordination with Pratham," he added.

Source: The Hindu More