Bengaluru: City police rescued 19 minors, including one girl, from shops and loading-unloading points at Yeshwantpur APMC market Tuesday, within hours of chief minister DK Shivakumar spotting child labourers there.During a surprise visit around 6am, Shivakumar spotted children working at the market and directed officials to act against both those employing them and those sending them to work.Soon, police formed five special teams, led by DCP (North) Babasab Nemagoud, and searched the market. Four shopowners were arrested. City police commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh said cases were registered against Shahid Majid, 60, B Prakash, 39, Amir S, 33, and Mohammed Saif, 27, under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and the Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.“Some individuals drew the CM’s attention to children being made to work in different shops and at loading and unloading points. In less than two hours, the police teams rescued 19 children,” Singh said.Shivakumar also ordered the dismissal of a cooperative society secretary after learning that the crop insurance claims of 93 farmers in Devara Hipparagi taluk had been rejected, allegedly because their premiums were not deposited with DCC Bank. A farmer told Shivakumar that the farmers had paid the premiums to the society but later received messages saying their claims had been rejected. After checking the list of farmers who had made payments, the CM directed officials to act against the secretary.At the APMC market, Shivakumar heard complaints from farmers, traders and mandi owners about police harassment, delayed payments, commissions, cultivation costs, and weighing practices. He also checked the weighing of onions.Farmers said markets in Kalaburagi, Bidar, and Vijayapura charged commissions of Rs 8 to Rs 10, while no commission was collected at Yeshwantpur, making it preferable for farmers. They also said deficient rainfall had reduced onion yields from the usual 150 to 200 bags an acre to around 50 bags this year. Excessive rain could cause the crop to rot, while low prices could make it difficult to recover transportation costs.Shivakumar warned traders against collecting excess charges and directed officials to prevent manipulation of weighing scales. He also asked farmers to report violations.Anjunappa, an onion farmer from Hosahatti village in Kudligi, told the CM that he had built a house on his farmland but had not received power connection despite applying for one. Several other households faced a similar problem, he said. Shivakumar directed officials to collect details and provide connections to the affected households. He also asked farmers to raise such grievances during the govt’s Prajaseva programmes.
