KOCHI: SEPTEMBER 1: Recently a joint police team from Odisha and West Kochi rescued 43 girls from a sea food processing company in West Kochi. Named as “Operation Muskaan”, a drive to trace missing children, followed reports that minor girls from Odisha were being trafficked to Kerala. An age determination test of the rescued labourers later confirmed that 26 of them were aged below 18. Authorities say, it is a pointer to a larger malaise that has plagued a major part of the seafood processing sector in Kerala. According to Mr K.V. Vijayan, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mattancherry, a raid at the units functioning in and around West Kochi is bound to bring out more cases of child labour and human trafficking. He said, “Given the huge volume of migrant women workforce in the sector, it is not a practical option to conduct raids and verify their age and other details”. Child Welfare Committee officials from the district held that it was high time that someone took up this issue with the State government. “The CWC, however, is unable to interfere in the absence of specific complaints,” said a top functionary of the agency. There are around 75 seafood processing units functioning in the Cherthala-West Kochi belt, which together employ about 4,000 women from States including Odisha, Assam, Bengal and Karnataka, industry sources say. Employed mainly in the stuffing and packaging section, their average monthly salary, including all benefits, is around Rs.7,000.]]>
