Mangalore : A workshop on Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act of 1986 was held for inspectors appointed under Section 17 in the Nethravathi Auditorium of the Zilla Panchayat (ZP) on Feb 16 Thursday.

The workshop was jointly organized by the state government, the Zilla Panchayat, the district administration, and 12 departments.

Speaking on the occasion, joint labour commissioner J. T. Jinkalapp said that the central government had set a deadline of 2007 for the state to declare itself as a state free of child labour, but now it has been extended to 2012.

He also said that the census of child labourers has been completed in 25 districts and 5 districts are pending, and it is complicated to get some since families employ children as domestic labourers employing child labourers has been banned.

R. V. Patil, the secretary of legal services authority; Dr. K. N. Vijayaprakash, the CEO of the Zilla Panchayat; Asha Nayak, the president of the child welfare committee; Hassan T. Shrinivas, the deputy labour commissioner; and Moses Jayshekar, the deputy director of public instruction, were also present.