Rajahmundry, June 12^th: In order to keep a check on putting children below 14 years of age to work, the government has initiated a special drive and as a part of this it has booked 152 employers under the Child Labour Prohibition Act from January to May 2009 in East Godavari District. The labour department in association with officials from other departments and representatives from voluntary organizations has been conducting raids on hotels, restaurants, theaters and other establishments to trace child labour.

According to the prohibition act, 55 manufacturing processes and 15 occupations were identified as sites of potential risk for engaging boys and girls for work. Till now as results of raiding 152 cases were booked and 15 of the employers are forced to deposit Rs 20,000 per child in banks for engaging them in work and also for paying low wages. The authorities are facing gigantic task in tracing the children particularly in urban areas that were engaged for domestic helps.

Under the Rajiv Vidya Mission, the rescued children are sent for informal education for a brief period at residential bridge centers and non residential bridge centers and later enrolled in regular schools for formal education. The East Godavari labour deputy commissioner said that they were advising people to allow children to study for their bright future.