13 child labourers rescued in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: As many as 13 children from Bihar, who were employed at a water purification plant at Mailardevpally area here, were rescued today, police said.

"Based on information that the management of a water plant had employed child labourers, police raided the premises and found 13 boys, all aged below 16 years, who were working and rescued them. Some of them are below 14 years also," Mailardevpally Police Station Inspector S Venkat Reddy said.

Police are in the process of registering an FIR before making arrests in the matter, he said.

Earlier, between January 24 to February 12, police during a series of raids had rescued over 450 child labourers, most of them coming from Bihar and West Bengal, who worked as bonded labourers in bangle-making units and gold polishing units here. They were sent back to their natives subsequently. Around 35 people had been arrested then.