Under the unforgiving midday sun, they toil hard and relentlessly for hours, carrying loads of concrete mix, stone chips and sand. Their tender hands gather the construction material meticulously in metal baskets and they trudge unsteadily to the median being constructed down the middle of the EM Bypass, almost wilting under the weight. Unloading the material on the ground, they help the seniors lay it between a bamboo frame that will help mould the median into shape and return to fill their baskets again. The routine continues till the sun dips, provided the contractor is satisfied with the progress of the work.

Children aged between eight and 14 years have been employed to re-lay the EM Bypass. While the bruised and battered arterial road is fast regaining its old state, at least half a dozen child workers are paying a heavy price. The majority of them are from the interiors of Murshidabad where employment is scarce. It often forces labourers, who can`t afford to educate their children, to bring them over and work in Kolkata. The income is doubled and supporting the family becomes easier.

Take 14-year-old Moinur Islam for instance. Along with his father Fadiud Zaman, he has been working at the Bypass site for a month. A Class V dropout, Moinur earns Rs 200-230 a day. It supplements his father`s earning of Rs 270 per day. Running the family has become easier for Zaman ever since he brought his son over, he admits. "I want to go to school, but we are poor. I must help my father," he says.

Zaman is unapologetic about the fact that he is forcing his minor to work. "Sources of income are restricted in our district. There are no factories, no land and no work. How shall we sustain ourselves? What good is it even if he manages to finish school?" asks Zaman.

NGO Prantakatha director Bappaditya Mukhopadhyay said the failure by either Left Front or Trinamool Congress government to set up a child commission despite promises meant that there are no nodal agencies to receive complaint or act on child abuse or child rights violation. "There are two paths - either complain to the police in which case there is hardly any action; or pick up the child and place it before the Juvenile Justice Board. Since the latter is not a decision-making body, it does not help either. Unless a grievance redress agency is set up, the violations will continue," he said