216 BONDED CHILD LABOURERS HANDED OVER TO DON BOSCO

24 January 2015, there was high drama at Don Bosco Navjeevan at Ramanthapur of Hyderabad. Here Don Bosco looks after destitute children picked up from the streets. All on a sudden, with no advance warning, the police turned up at our centre with 216 children who had been rescued from bonded labour. The children are mostly from a State in North India.

The Salesians, the staff of Navjeevan, and above all, the children residing with us have been going all out since then till today, to welcome the children, to feed them, to cheer them up, care for those with wounds, etc. The CWC, the labour department, the CID, the Revenue department, etc., are busy partly trying to take the credit or and partly to sort out the issues about returning the children to their families.

There is satisfaction at the recognition given to Don Bosco as the organization to turn to when there is need for service for children on a massive scale. There is acknowledgement that Don Bosco can handle a problem of any size and without any prior notice, if it is for the benefit of children in need. On the other hand, it is sad that this violation of laws enacted forty years ago is being discovered only now, and only as a result of a counter-terrorism combing operation!