TRAVELLERS may be excused for believing that getting their tickets booked at Gandhigram is the same as doing it from Kalupur, and rushing to the office of the Divisional Manager’s (DRM) office at Kalupur complaining about inadequate passenger reservation services (PRS). They may also be excused for losing their tempers when he says that Gandhigram does not fall under his jurisdiction, and claims helplessness.

Despite being located in Ahmedabad, Gandhigram falls under Bhavnagar Division. So, all administration and public dealings occur at Bhavnagar, about 200 km away. Unless the complaints are very serious, most complainants simply give up.

All this, however, may soon be a thing of past, with the Railway Ministry finally deciding to act on an old AMC suggestion to shift the track from Sabarmati D Cabin to Sarkhej, currently under the Bhavnagar Division to the Ahmedabad Division.

Union Minister of State for Railways Naranbhai Rathwa, on a visit to the city recently, revealed that the Ministry had been apprised of the issue. He added that the proposal would be taken up at a suitable time, along with similar requests from other zones of the country.

‘‘We are going to formulate a common policy on the nitty-gritties of switch-over because such an exercise affects seniority of personnel’’, the Minister said. The minister admitted that Railway employee unions would be consulted before any decision is taken. The unions are opposed to the idea unless the issue of seniority is settled. Rathwa also called the merger the logical thing to do, adding that the ministry had no problem going ahead with it.

Arvind Khare, Ahmedabad DRM, feels that issues like cleaning along the tracks of D Cabin-Sarkhej, PRS related complaints, placement of hoardings, or digging near the track would be easy and faster to resolve as and when the merger took place. ‘‘The employees of Bhavnagar division would be given the option of either moving over to Ahmedabad division or remaining with Bhavnagar division. Should they choose to stay with the Bhavnagar Division, they would be transferred to other places’’, he said. He, however, clarified that reorganisation of divisions was not being planned till an agreement was reached with the unions, and the Ministry came out with clear policy guidelines.

Source: Expressindia.com

TWO-TIME meals and paltry Rs 300 sum up the monthly wages of Prakash Chandra, a teenager, who slogs throughout the day at a food stall in front of M J Library to make ends meet. The story of Nanu, his friend and co-worker, is no different. For the likes of Prakash and Nanu, Children’s Day will be just another day at work.

For some, its sheer necessity of ensuring two-square meals a day that forces them to take up odd and menial jobs. Fifteen-year-old Aakash and two of his friends wander in the streets of Ahmedabad with their boot-polish kit. Aakash’s jobless and drunkard father, a rag-picker mother, augment the need for another bread-winner in the family.

“Poverty forces most parents to send their children to work as parents themselves fail to earn enough,” says Ganesh, a food-stall owner. There is lack of awareness in society about the recently amended Child Labour Act and apathy over the issue, says Sukhdev Patel of Ganatar, an NGO that works for rights of children.

“The Labour Department does not have enough manpower to enforce the Child Labour Act. Even the society is less sensitive about this issue,” he adds. On steps to check flouting of the norm, he says that even police can enforce the rule and take action against violators. Ironically, police department is not aware of such discretionary powers, he says.

However, on its part, the department assures of regular raids to penalise offenders. “It takes time to abolish child labour completely. Since the act was re-inforced with amendments in October, we have rescued at least 142 children and sent them to Juvenile Observation Home in Khanpur. We have also started National Child Labour Project Schools in Surat, Godhra, Vadodara and Dahod, and by the end of this month, more such schools will be opened in nine other districts,” says P K Vasavda, Additional Labour Commissioner.

According to Patel, the State Government has not conducted a survey on child labour, hence it is not possible to give the exact figure of working children.Act may be in place but neither children, nor their parents are aware of the law on child labour in terms of age limit, wages, workhours.

Ask Vasavda about the lack of awareness and he brushes it aside by saying that the department is regularly conducting rallies and seminars to create awareness. “It’s conditioning that helps children and parents in violating the norm,” says Rohit Vadhwana, a regular visitor at M J Library.

Children are brain-washed into concealing their real age, wage and the condition of their work place, he says.

Source: Expressindia.com