States » EastPosted at: Oct 1 2026 4:59PM


Bengal: 14 minors rescued from bonded labour at Shankarpur fishing port in East Midnapore

Midnapore, Oct 1 (UNI) A child labour racket operating under the cover of West Bengal’s bustling Shankarpur fishing port has been exposed, with 14 minors and a 21-year-old worker rescued who were allegedly being forced to work for up to 16 hours a day for nominal wages.
The minors, aged between 15 and 18, were allegedly employed at a fishing-net weaving unit in the port area and made to work from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m., and sometimes until 2 a.m. during periods of heavy workload.
All 15 rescued workers are residents of different areas of Odisha’s Balasore district.
The operation was conducted jointly by the East Midnapore district administration, Labour Department and Mandarmani Coastal Police on Wednesday following confidential information about the alleged exploitation.
Officials said the workers had been recruited against advance payments and the preliminary investigation revealed restrictions on their freedom of movement and their ability to change their place of work. Their documents were also allegedly withheld.
The rescued minors were taken into protective custody and are being sent to Tapovan Shishu Awas Home at Kajla in Contai. The adult worker will be sent to a shelter home in Contai.
Police registered a case under provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, and the Child and Adolescent Labour Act. Investigation is underway to determine the extent of the alleged exploitation and identify those responsible for employing the minors.
The rescue has raised questions about how an alleged bonded labour operation involving minors continued inside a major fishing port and tourist destination without detection.
Ganesh Chandra Karmakar, an official of the Contai Labour Department, said surveillance and search operations would continue in the area to eliminate child labour.
“Such surveillance and search operations will continue in the coming days,” he said, adding that efforts were also underway to identify other locations where minors could be working as bonded labourers.
The administration’s action has meanwhile brought the labour practices operating behind the busy fishing-port economy under scrutiny, particularly the recruitment of vulnerable workers from neighbouring Odisha on an advance-payment basis.
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Tags: #Bengal: 14 minors rescued from bonded labour at Shankarpur fishing port in East Midnapore
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