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Description
he judicial statement of a 14-year-old survivor of Thursday's Pingla blast, which left 12 dead, gives a chilling account of teenagers being lured with false promises, trafficked and forced into life-threatening work, which either kills them or maims them for life. Mustaq Ahmed, 14, says he was promised a head mason's job but forced to work in the Pingla explosives factory. His wages? A measly Rs 80 for every 1,000 crackers made. What Ahmed told police — and later the magistrate — raises an alarm. Take for example Ahmed's home town — Suti's Natun Chandra village. Ten of the 12 dead are from here. What worries the Murshidabad district administration is the fact that not just the Pingla victims, over 100 such people, several of them suspected to be children, are missing from this village that falls under the Jagtai-II gram panchayat. District child protection officer Arjun Dutta and social welfare inspector Ujjwal Saha, who have visited the homes of the children who died in the Pingla blast, adds in their report that poverty is forcing these children to shun schools, madrassas and even the ICDS centres. In his statement, Ahmed has mentioned that Ram Maity and his henchman Sk Suraj — now absconding — had come to their Suti home and lured them to Pingla. The duo offered the children cellphones and money for mason's work. Ahmed said that once they went to Pingla, things were different. They were summarily trained to make firecrackers and put to work. They didn't even get the Rs 80 per 1,000 crackers as promised. Their food and accommodation costs were deducted from it. It was almost like a prison with Suraj keeping a hawk eye on where they went and to whom they spoke. That fatal night, Ahmed had gone to the washroom and hence survived with a shattered left wrist. Others were not that lucky. Ahmed's statement resonated across homes in Natun Chandra village. 'Dafadar' or labour contractor is a lucrative job here. These are people who engage minors to go outside for "work". The reasons are not hard to gauge. A district child protection report, for example, mentions brothers Amir (20) and Shamim (13) — who died in Pingla blast — as being two of eight siblings. They are five brothers and three sisters. Ironically, their father Mubarak Sheikh alias Tarzan used to be a labour contractor. Hounded by police after the Mumbai blasts, he then started a "fruit business" in Jharkhand's Pakur. Tarzan sent none of his eight children to school. Jahida Biwi, elder sister of Nursalim (16) — another blast victim — says that none of her seven siblings go to school. Labour contractor Farooq alias Raju claimed, "No one here is interested in the mid-day meals in schools or ICDS centres. If girls cross 10 years of age, they earn Rs 100-125 per day making bidis while boys search for job outside which assures them Rs 200-300 per day." This is far from what the children actually earn. But when they find this out, it's too late. Serina Bibi, Jagtai-II gram panchayat pradhan, said, "There are three ICDS centres, a Shishu Shiksha Kendra (SSK) and a high school here, but parents are least interested." According to panchayat records, 108 labourers have collected migration certificates from Jagtai-II panchayat since 2012, but only 13 intimated the panchayat after returning. Migration certificates are issued by the panchayat for adults keen on working outside. The pradhan herself admitted that this isn't the real picture. "We don't have any detailed record for missing children. The labour contractors lure the children but we don't issue migration certificates to anyone below 18 years of age." Ahmed said he was desperate to return home after the blast. He had asked for Rs 50 from a local leader — Krishna Prasad Bera — for it. Looking at his bleeding arm, Bera admitted him to Pingla hospital. Now he is under treatment in M R Bangur Hospital.
Keywords
Migration, child labour, trafficking, Kolkata, Pingla, blast, Child, crackers, factory, contractor, labour
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