KALAIGAON, – Incidents of trafficking of children, adolescent girls and women in Udalguri district have assumed an elephantine proportion not only in Udalguri but BTAD districts as well. Small children are being trafficked for engagement in different shops or factories in hazardous condition despite the existence of child labour Act. The children are often harassed, abused and even dragged into street begging by some notorious criminals. Adolescent girls of poor families are also often convinced by middle men or women for working as maids in towns and cities at higher rate of payment, and are being trafficked. The parents or guardians cannot resist this temptation, but what they can never known is the situation their children and girls are facing at their work place.
Some adolescent girls are also sexually abused at their work place leaving them pregnant and nursing mothers. What is more pathetic is the fact that some of them are also murdered after sexual abuse. Some women are also lured by brokers and trafficked to place like Delhi, Gujrat, Mumbai, Agra Jummu, Kolkta, Siliguri etc. Rescue of large numbers of such girls and women at Rangia and New Bongaigaon etc. by social organizations like ABSU has proved the seriousness of the problems. The dalals are said to get Rs. 25000 on an average for each girl or woman. Large numbers of bogus placement agencies operating from Delhi, Agra, Mumbai and Kolkata etc., enroll hundreds of agents in Assam to lure girls and women.
Recently an Assam Police team raided the premises of several such placement agencies in new Delhi and rescued several victims. According to Sekhar Biswas, Officer Incharge, Kalaigaon police station (who supervised the raid in new Delhi) told this correspondent that brokers of such placement agencies used to shuttle once in a months between Assam and New Delhi etc. Moreover, all these placement agencies had no valid permission from the government. A few such placement agencies used to shuttle once, in a months between Assam and new Delhi etc.
A few such placement agencies operating from New Delhi are – SS Maid Service, Raj Enterpise, Tania Maid Service, Assami Maid Service, Dipti Enterpise, National Placement service, Sweta Placement service, Sanjana Maid Services, etc.
Udalguri district Deputy Commissioner SS Meenakshi Sundaram recently convened an emergency meeting at Udalguri on June 23 to discuss the matter. The meeting, held at the DCs conference hall, was attended by high-level civil and police officials besides ABSU and Bodo women activists. The Deputy commissioners directed all civil and police officials to implement and guidelines issued by the BTC Authority to stop illegal trafficking in the district. A district level womens cell was formed with DC Udalguri as the chairman, PK Mahanta, ADC, as the member secretary, all ADCs, SP, Addl SP, SDO (Civil) Bhergaon Joint Director of Health, Superintendent of Excise as the members, apart from three members of the public, namely – Nerkhang Kahaklary, district secretary ABSU, Dipti Daimari Bodo women activist, and Jayanta Das, social worker. The meeting decided to form sub-divisional and ICDS project-level committees for creating awareness among the common people.
(www.assamtribune.com)
