GUWAHATI:
Coal thieves are engaging school dropouts, aged between 11 to 13 years to carry coal from illegal coal mining sites in Margherita, sources have revealed.
These child labourers, most of whom belongs to the Adivasi and other minority communities and had left school after Class VIII, have been working in Tirap, Tikak, Ledo No 6 line, Paharpur and Baragolai coal mining areas for lump-sum salaries, according to the sources.
It has been alleged that the coal thieves hired child labourers to carry coal bags that have been stolen from coal mining sites even as no child below the age of 14 can work at any business establishment and other workshops as per the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act,1986.
It was revealed that coal to the tune of Rs 100 crore has been stolen from Patkai coal fields illegally, despite intensified security measures adopted by Coal India Ltd.
It is also alleged that the security agencies that have been engaged by Coal India are in nexus with the coal thieves and they are allowing the illegal activity in exchange of huge sums of money.
According to official figures, in 2017-18 Assam registered a 10.1 per cent dropout rate in primary classes and 33.7 per cent in secondary classes. The figure might go up as a fall out of the two pandemics of Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021.
Mining operation in the Tikak coalfield resumed on March 27 after it was suspended by Coal India Ltd on June 3, 2020.