Gross violation of child labour prevention norms: Accident in Kalain ‘It Batta’ exposes loopholes in safety measures

Call it exploitation of the poor and marginalised or gross violation of government laws laid to prevent child labour, the Brick Kiln (It Batta) accident in Kalain exposed the loopholes in administration’s mechanism to bring the laws into effect.

The labour deployment at the Brick kiln in Lakhipur – Kalain is segregated into two part. In one part, there are 10 labourers from Bihar who specialise in burning the furnace that hardens the doughs into bricks. They work at the Kiln. Another set of 31 labourers who work as daily wagers are deployed at the field. Their job is to give bricks shape which is later shipped to the kiln.

Out of the 31 labourers from Barpeta, there are ten children below the age of 14. All of them are employed and work on a daily basis.

For the freshers, repeated explosions at the kiln on Friday damaged the chimney and it fell on top of the people present on the spot. Five people have already been declared dead and among them, there is a 12-year-old. To clear the confusion, the twelve-year old isn’t a child deployed on the field for labour. Rahat Farhat, is grand daughter of the owner of the factory, Altaf Hussain and was there to attend a ceremony.

Before putting the furnace on fire, as a ritual, there was a religious congregation. Imam Abu Sufiyan led the religious proceedings who has also lost his life. Ashraful Islam, the third member out of the five, who succumbed after suffocating at the debris of the chimney, used to live at the resident of Altaf Hussain and was student at a local madrassa.

The remaining two deceased are labourers from Bihar. Three more have been deemed to be critical and are under treatment at Silchar Medical College and Hospital.

Another aspect that the locals have flagged off is how the kiln managed to secure the permission. “It was submerged during the devastating flood in summer and since then, the owners hardly repaired the chimney and started the seasonal work. This is a disaster due to lack of awareness,” said a local worker.

The factory department of Cachar District Administration, apparently, granted permission to the kiln to go ahead with the seasonal work. The administration’s department is also under scrutiny.