The Mysuru district administration has ordered intensified inspections to eliminate child labour, with officials directed to conduct at least 15 inspections every month in each hobli and prevent children under 18 from working in festival markets, shops and firecracker units.
Additional Deputy Commissioner R. Aishwarya issued the directions at a quarterly progress review meeting of the District Child Labour Project Society’s district-level executive and task force committees held at the district commissioner’s office on Tuesday. The meeting reviewed inspections and awareness programmes conducted between July 1 and September 30 of the 2026-27 financial year.
Officials notified as inspectors under the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act have been asked to complete the minimum monthly inspections without fail. The instructions place responsibility on multiple levels of the district administration, including officials working across hoblis and taluks.
Aishwarya also directed that taluk-level meetings of the Child Labour Eradication and Rehabilitation Committee be held regularly every month under the chairmanship of the respective tahsildars. The meetings are intended to review enforcement and rehabilitation-related action at the local administrative level.
The administration has further asked taluk authorities, legal services committees and government departments to jointly organise awareness programmes in schools and public places. These programmes are to explain the provisions of the child labour law and strengthen public awareness about the protection of children’s rights.
The directions specifically cover the Dasara exhibition grounds, stalls and shops. Officials have been told to ensure that children below 18 are not employed at these locations. They have also been asked to take immediate action to prevent children from selling pens, pencils, balloons and other goods in the exhibition area and surrounding commercial spaces.
The administration has also identified temporary firecracker sale and manufacturing stalls established in district and taluk centres for the Deepavali festival as hazardous establishments. Officials have been instructed to sensitise stall owners and maintain strict surveillance to ensure that children below 18 are not engaged in these activities.
The enforcement plan links routine inspections with festival-period monitoring, when temporary markets and stalls can expand quickly across public and commercial spaces. The instructions therefore require officials to monitor both established businesses and seasonal activity associated with Dasara and Deepavali.
The review meeting was attended by Mysuru Sub-Division Labour Officer Chetan Kumar, Child Welfare Committee chairperson Ravichandra M., Assistant Commissioner of Police Mohammed Sharif Rาวутర్ of the Special Juvenile Police Unit, senior labour inspectors, labour inspectors, project directors, representatives of non-governmental organisations and members of the district labour society. The administration’s next steps are the monthly inspections, taluk committee meetings, awareness programmes and festival-season monitoring directed at officials.
