Ahmedabad: The blaze that killed nine people, including three minors, at an illegal firecracker factory in Ramol has prompted fresh allegations of bonded child labour spanning a decade despite an earlier explosion and police action.A blast occurred on the same premises in July 2014 in which a 14-year-old boy died.In 2014, the14-year-old and his brother, who was 16 at the time, were allegedly forced to work at the unit because the factory owners wanted to recoup the Rs 20,000 advance their elder brother had taken.Their brother, Narendra Chunara, told TOI, “I was working at that factory, but after I got married, my father-in-law insisted that I quit the hazardous job.”He said, “I had taken an advance of Rs 20,000 from Ramila Dodia, one of the factory owners. After I quit, she made my brothers work.”According to Chunara, Dodia used to pick up the minors after school and make them work for eight to ten hours every day without paying them a single rupee. “She said the money was being adjusted against the advance,” he said.Chunara said that after his younger brother died in the blast, a police complaint was filed. “But we never got justice,” he said. “The factory started operating again in 2020, and they again employed children.”After Saturday’s explosion, locals claimed that minors had been regularly seen working at the factory.Ramol police inspector M R Chaudhary said investigators were examining the child labour allegations. “Children were found dead on the premises. Whether they were working with their parents or merely living with them, serious concerns arise about child labour,” he said.Chaudhary added, “A child labour officer has begun an inquiry on behalf of state govt.”Residents of the area alleged that children aged 11 to 14 were preferred for certain jobs within the unit. “Children were engaged in preparing firecracker fuses because their small and delicate fingers made them suitable for the work,” said a local source.Additional commissioner of police Jaypal Singh Rathore said, “We suspect that the children who died in Saturday’s blast were staying with their parents.”He said that the question of child labour will be settled only after questioning the main accused, Mehul Dodia.The tragedy has also brought into focus the story of Asrar Ali Saiyed, a 19-year-old who died in Saturday’s explosion. A relative told TOI that Asrar had started working at the firecracker unit when he was just 11 years old to support his financially distressed family.
