Silk reeling centres to get motors , deterring child labour

Statesman News Service
MALDA, May 11: To stop the recruitment of child workers in silk reeling centres, the sericulture department has decided to provide motors to small traders who run silk reeling and spinning units and manually engage child workers in the Kaliachak block of Malda district.

“We noticed that most of the small traders engage child workers to manufacture silk yarn. We set up 10 motors in different reeling centres last year as an experiment and the response was positive from the small traders”, claimed the deputy director, sericulture department in Malda, Mr. Subrata Das.

“This year we have a target to provide 100 motors to the small traders who manufacture silk yarn at a subsidized rate. The beneficiaries would have to pay Rs. 2,500 for the motors and the department would bear the rest of the cost for setting up the motors. Each installation would cost around Rs. 10,000”, Mr. Das added.

The department has also planned to build separate rearing houses for the production of silk cocoons. The project cost of each separate rearing house is Rs. 50,000. The farmers would have to pay labour costs of Rs. 25,000 and the state government would finance the remaining cost.

According to Mr. Das, 435 families have been selected for the project in the district. Most small farmers rear silkworm in their dwellings in unhygienic conditions. The objective of the project is to separate the rearing houses from the swellings to save the silkworm from various diseases.

The department has further decided to change its police of providing financials assistance for setting up big spinning and reeling centres in the district due to the labour crisis. The projects estimating Rs.10 to 12 lakh have been identified as sick units.

“The local labourers prefer to go out of the state for better remuneration and local entrepreneurs do not get sufficient workers to run the spinning and reeling units. We want to set op small spinning and reeling units for manufacturing silk yarn where seri-farmers’ family members would themselves work and beat the scarcity of labour problem”, the officials said. (END)