Textbooks meant for labourers' children sold illegally on roadside

In a shocking incident, textbooks intended for the children of registered beneficiaries under the Karnataka Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board were found being sold illegally on the roadside in Bengaluru. An FIR has been registered at the Rajagopalnagar Police Station in connection with the case.

Every year, the Labour Department provides registered labourers' children with educational materials such as notebooks, drawing books, and graph books under its welfare schemes. However, it has now emerged that several such books, which were meant to be distributed freely, never reached the intended beneficiaries and were instead being sold in the open market.

The irregularity came to light when members of the Karunada Karmikara Sene conducted a raid on June 23 at a roadside stall in Chowdeshwari Nagar near Laggere, where the books were reportedly being sold at Rs 70 per kilogram.

Following the raid, Labour Inspector B.H. Manjunath filed a complaint, leading to the registration of an FIR against a man named Thanesh Kumar, who was allegedly involved in the illegal sale. Authorities from the Labour Department have begun an internal investigation into how the books, which are distributed free of cost to labourers' children, ended up in unauthorized hands.

Officials said they are collecting further details about the shop and suspect possible pilferage from within the supply or distribution channels. The department has assured strict action against those found responsible.