Little vendors out to help parents

Shoppers condemn admin for allowing children to sell at Sunday Bazaars.

LAHORE: A large number of children were seen selling large plastic shopping bags at various Sunday Bazaars on Sunday.

More than 140 children, aged between three years to 12 years, were selling plastic bags at the bazaars in Nishtar Town, Walton Road, Allama Iqbal Town and Muslim Town.

Most of the children accompanied their parents, who had set up stalls at the Sunday Bazaars.

The children said that they earned Rs150-Rs200 every Sunday by selling these bags. Each bag was sold for five rupees.

They said they spent the entire holiday selling bags, so they were often unable to complete their homework. Mohammad Rasool, 3, was accompanying his 6-year-old brother.

The boys, yelling paanch rupay, paanch rupay (Rs5 only), had managed to sell 14 bags so far.  The elder brother said that they usually earned around Rs150.

The parents of one child said they needed their children’s help to raise their weekly earnings.

Some shoppers condemned the authorities for allowing the children to sell at the bazaars, saying that it was child labour. They said that it was not a safe place for children to roam around unaccompanied.

Ahad Cheema, the district coordination officer, said that there was nothing wrong with children working at the Sunday Bazaars. “Child work and child labour are two different things. Hazardous labour is prohibited but children can work in safe environments with the consent of their parents,” he said.

Abdul Rauf Khan, the Labour department secretary, said that labour laws do not cover informal sectors like Sunday Bazaars, private workshops and the agricultural sector.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2010.