Metropolis rescuing child labor from volunteers

Kathmandu metropolis has rescued 41 people including 21 girls and 20 boys in the last two months. Dheeraj Joshi, a member of the mayor's secretariat of the metropolis, said that child laborers who were in dangerous situations were rescued in the houses of ex-judges, sitting parliamentarians, sitting police officers, former police officers, lawyers, and engineers.

Metropolis was doing homework for a year to rescue. Advisors including Joshi attached to the mayor's secretariat initially allocated 1.5 million for child protection fund, 1.5 million for temporary children's home operation and emergency rescue in the city's budget for the current fiscal year. Allocated 50 million budget.

Created a procedure to find out the status of children in the metropolis and give guardianship. After the 'Kathmandu Metropolitan City Child Protection and Child Rights Procedure 2080' was published in the local gazette on February 14, the way to work in the field was opened. Metropolitan Children's Rights Committee has been formed under the chairmanship of the deputy head of the metropolis. The

committee adopted a policy of 'screening' the status of children in the metropolis by employing interns (volunteers). When a public notice was issued asking for volunteers, 400 college students applied. From that, 80 people were 'shortlisted'. 31 people were also selected from the shortlist and trained on performance and deployed in the field. They were selected for 081 Baisakh 1 to May 30 to get a salary of 500 per day. Also, the metropolis requested information about children who are at risk and need special protection.

"According to the information received, we have started sending volunteers to do Reiki and rescue," said Soni Bhattarai, a member of Mahanagara Child Rights Committee. The metropolis had started the rescue from the first week of Baisakh. Metropolis has a toll-free call center number 1180. Within five minutes of receiving a call at the city's call center, the call reaches the mayor's secretariat and the focal points of the child rights committee. After this, the volunteers are mobilized and the rescue begins.

Joshi himself did Reiki all day on the first day after receiving a secret information that child laborers were kept in the canteen of Singha Darbar. Joshi said, ``We came as many as we wanted, but we were not found, we were kept under surveillance,'' said Joshi. .'

Joshi said that the rescued children were from Koshi, Sudurpaschim, Karnali and Bariga Madhesh provinces. After the rescue, parents are found and family reunified or placed under the protection of an orphanage. The metropolis seeks legal remedy by filing a lawsuit against those who commit the crime of child labor. Shanta Pahari, head of the social development department and child welfare officer in the metropolis, informed that children who are at risk, suffering from exploitation and abuse are being rescued.

Another member of the committee, Praveen Silwal, said that the condition of children at risk is classified based on red, yellow and green color signals. "Children who are under 12 years of age, who have to work for more than 7 hours a day, who have faced or are facing sexual violence and abuse, have been placed in the red color category," he said. , not allowed to eat full stomach, we put the children in the category with yellow color indication.'

It was said that the children received loving treatment and speech, were provided with sufficient amount of educational materials, had regular contact with their families, and were placed in the category marked with green color. Among these, children in risky situations in the red color signal category will be rescued, he said. It is estimated that there are around 10,000 child laborers in various areas of the metropolis.