Dear Alochoks
This is so sad. Poor kids. Damned injustice.
Is it better to ask the government to do something or an ngo?
Do political activists of AL and BNP care about these kids?
Do Chatral League or Chatra Dal care?
All part of the great pile of crap that is 'modern political thought in Bangladesh circa 21st Century'.
Ezajur Rahman
Kuwait
--- In alochona@yahoogroups.com, "Ezajur Rahman" <ezajur.rahman@...> wrote:
>
> SLAVING FOR COOKWARE
>
>
> Courtesy Daily Star
>
>
> 14/5/09
>
>
> Children toil in aluminium hell, work 13 hours a day for meagre wages
>
>
> <http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/photo_gallery.php?pid=88138>
>
> The grimace on this minor boy's face (Picture L) tells how much toll the
> toil takes of him as he earns a livelihood working in this metal factory
> producing aluminum utensils.
>
> Picture Top R shows another minor -- his face covered in toxic metal
> dust -- stacking the finished utensils.
>
> Picture bottom picture shows yet another minor assisting a man in the
> operation of heavy machinery in the factory.
>
> None of the forty laws enacted in this country against child labour,
> protect these boys.
>
> Photo: Shafiqul Alam
>
> An overpowering stench of chemicals and acid hangs in the air as
> children aged between 10 and 18 work at Bandhu Metal Factory in Nurbagh
> in Kamrangirchar.
>
> Without slightest precautionary measures, the children work at the
> tin-roofed congested factory and inhale huge aluminium dust 13 hours a
> day.
>
> At noon, four children among a group of ten workers were seen working
> busily. All the four were operating a heavy spinning machine in bare
> hands and face.
>
> The children start their work at 6:00am without any fixed wage. They get
> between Tk 200 and Tk 400 a week depending not on their work but on
> their age.
>
> The factory is so crammed with machines and raw materials that the kids
> can hardly move. Besides, it burns inside in high temperature, which is
> almost unbearable even for the grown-ups.
>
> The same working condition prevails in all neighbouring factories.
> Workers, even little children, were seen handling acid and alkali in
> bare hands at nearby Shuvo plastic factory.
>
> Six out of 14 workers are children there and no-one seems to be
> concerned about their safety.
>
> "The present situation of child labour is so deplorable and dangerous.
> We don't have any specific plan yet how to address the wide range of
> problems in this regard," State Minister for Labour and Employment
> Monnujan Sufian told The Daily Star.
>
> "However, we'll try to control the situation in phases in future," she
> added.
>
> Back at the plastic factory, 10-year old Sayedur describes his ordeal.
> "I got my smallest finger cut after a round piece of aluminium fell on
> it. I face such risk every day only for Tk 250 a week."
>
> "We pay the children on the basis of their performance and naturally
> kids of minor age are not skilled enough," says Mobarak, owner of Shuvo
> plastic.
>
> "Aluminium particles are solid. If these particles go through the
> respiratory tunnel, the children will definitely suffer from lung
> diseases and breathing problems," says Prof Nilufar Nahar of department
> of chemistry, Dhaka University.
>
> "Inhaling such particles can cause chronic bronchitis and
> pneumoconiosis, affecting expandability of the lung and crippling the
> respiratory system," observes Dr Kazi S Bennoor of BSMMU.
>
> "Consumption of colouring pigment may cause asthma and lung cancer in
> the long run," he adds.
>
> According to a survey titled "National Child Labour Survey: 2002-2003",
> there are around 7.4 million working children including 3.2 million
> child labourers in the country.
>
> The survey states that 1.3 million of the surveyed children are engaged
> in hazardous work, defined as working more than 43 hours a week, which
> is considered to be detrimental to their physical and mental health.
>
> Experts say the number of children engaged in hazardous work would be
> much higher if the sectors deemed to be hazardous have been clearly
> defined.
>
> Another astonishing matter is that although involvement of children in
> unhygienic workplaces is evident and widely reported, neither the
> government nor the NGOs have taken any steps to assess and look after
> the children suffering from diseases affecting them in the workplaces.
> --------------------------------------------------------
>
------------------------------------
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