Attempt any one of the following : (5 marks)A2. News Report : Prepare a news report based on the following : ‘Child labourers rescued from stone quarries’. (alternative to A1)

Child labourers rescued from stone quarries

Pune, 12th March : In a joint operation carried out on Monday morning, the district administration and the police rescued twenty-three child labourers, aged between eight and fourteen, from four stone quarries in the Junnar taluka.

The raid followed a complaint by a city-based voluntary organisation, Bal Raksha, whose workers had been visiting the quarries for a fortnight. According to the officials, the children were made to break stones for ten to twelve hours a day and were paid a few rupees a week. They were kept in tin sheds and given only one meal a day.

The children have been sent to a government rehabilitation centre, where they will be given food, medical care and schooling. The owners of the quarries have been arrested and cases have been registered against them under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act.

The District Collector has announced that all stone quarries in the taluka will be inspected within a week. “No child will be allowed to work in this district,” he told reporters.