Child Labor Rampant in Gulmarg
Srinagar: Child labour is assuming the proportions of an epidemic in the famed tourist resort of Gulmarg where an increasing number of children is being pushed to work as pony-wallahs and labourers at a very tender age.
On the one hand the tourism department is trying hard to attract tourists the world over to the Kashmir Valley, but on the other local, domestic and foreign tourists visiting Gulmarg get an alarming impression of Kashmir.
Many tourists in Gulmarg were heard making negative comments on seeing small children engaged as labourers in the scenic spot.
Scores of children are seen conducting tourists as pony-wallahs and labourers around Gulmarg, and a good number of kids works in hotels and restaurants, while still others are seen acting as vendors.
Eleven-year-old pony wallah, Arshad Ahmad Bhat, said that he works with horses throughout the day, earning Rs 150 on an average that is sufficient to meet his family’s needs.
Reports said that most of these children give up school and take to child labour because of familial conditions.
Several people in the area said that child labour was at peak in Gulmarg because no official of the labour department was posted there.
Despite a national ban on child labour, the practice continues with impunity in Gulmarg and the situation is growing more serious with each passing day, they say.
A noted educationist of Tangmarg, Syed Muzaffar, said that if child labour was not curbed in time, most children would give up school to join the trade, and that would sully the fair name of Gulmarg.
“Gulmarg is totally hidden from the sights of the government so far as child labour is concerned. It is being intensely felt that children must be drawn to education instead of labour so that misimpressions don’t spread to others,” he said.