NOIDA: In a crackdown on teenage workers employed at construction sites, the labour department of Gautam Budh Nagar has issued notices to several establishments in Noida that were found to be violating labour laws, officials said on Thursday.
The inspections, conducted on Wednesday and Thursday under the supervision of Deputy Labour Commissioner Rakesh Dwivedi, found multiple underage workers engaged in under-construction projects in Sectors 159, 143A, and 129.
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Officials said inspections were carried out at six establishments, including a water purifier manufacturing unit, an IT company’s construction site, and two commercial real estate projects located in Sectors 129, 143A, and 159.
A total of 11 adolescent workers, aged 16 to 17 years, were found working at these sites. None of them were registered under the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Welfare Board, as required by law, they added.
Assistant labour commissioner (ALC) Suyash Pandey, who led the inspection team along with fellow ALC SP Singh, said, “All those identified are aged between 16 and 17 years. There are two categories of child labour – one, below 14 years of age, who are strictly prohibited from being employed in any form; and the second, between 14 and 18 years, who can only work under specific conditions”.
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“The employer must inform the labour department, ensure working hours do not exceed five hours, and provide a weekly off. In these cases, the children were deployed at construction sites where they were exposed to dust and other unsafe conditions, violating these norms. Hence, notices have been issued to the concerned employers,” said Pandey.
The process of verifying the exact ages of the identified workers is currently underway. “Once age verification is complete, further action will be taken as per law,” Pandey added.
Officials noted that the violations fall under multiple legislations, including the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, and Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act.
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Meanwhile, the department also intervened in a wage dispute at a private firm where 11 workers had not been paid their dues. “Through mediation between the management and the workers, pending wages amounting to ₹59,471 were cleared and transferred directly to their bank accounts,” Pandey said.
The department will continue regular inspections to ensure strict enforcement of labour laws and protection of adolescent workers, said deputy labour commissioner Dwivedi.