Annual Report 2009-2010 position from the District authorities whether necessary action was taken for rehabilitation of the children a�er obtaining their release certificate. The report submi�ed by the team of officers from NHRC brought to the forefront the fact that out of 143 child labourers, two had expired and only 39 had been rehabilitated. Due to intervention made by the NHRC team, 42 more cases were resolved. In 10 other cases, the photocopies of release certificates were handed over to the concerned authorities for initiating the process of rehabilitation regarding which the authority’s response was positive. As regards the status of other 50 child labourers, the concerned District Magistrates had initiated action to procure the release certificates from their counterpart in U�ar Pradesh. 4.235 The ma�er is still under consideration of the Commission as there are still 60 child labourers waiting for want of rehabilitation. 39. Rescue of Children Found to be Working in Mines in Hospet, Sandur and IIkal Belt of Karnataka (Case No.45/10/2005-2006-FC) 4.236 The Commission took suo motu cognizance of a news item which appeared in the ‘The Hindu’ captioned “Lakhs of Children Employed in State Mines : Report” on 16 May 2005. It was reported that an NGO named ‘HAQ : Centre for Child Rights’ published a report stating that several lakh children starting from the age of five were working in the mines in Hospet, Sandur and IIkal belt of Karnataka in hazardous and horrible conditions in violation of child and labour laws. These children were handling high level of toxic wastes and exposed to mine dust which was above permissible level and, therefore, were susceptible to serious chronic health problems. Taking suo motu cognizance of the news report, the Commission directed the Chief Secretary, Karnataka State and Secretary of the then Department of Women and Child Development, Government of India to look into the ma�er and submit their comments. 4.237 A response was received from the Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India, enclosing therewith a copy of the communication received from the Principal Secretary, Labour Department, Government of Karnataka. It was revealed that a large-scale surface digging was taking place in Bellary and Bagalkot Districts of the State, where migrant labourers from the drought-affected districts of Karnataka and neighbouring States had converged and were employed by owners of these tracts on piece-meal rate basis. The magnitude of the problem was nowhere projected. It was further stated that the allegation concerning several lakh children were engaged in the mining activities in Bellary and Hospet region alone seemed to be highly exaggerated. The Commission was concurrently informed about various schemes for rehabilitation of working children and action taken in the ma�er. 4.238 While considering the ma�er, the Commission on 4 June 2007 directed that a factfinding team from the Investigation Division should visit the Districts of Bellary and Bagalkot in Karnataka and submit a report regarding the employment of child labourers in mining activities and the action taken by the State Government. 4.239 The report of the fact-finding team of the Investigation Division revealed that 1,051 pa�adars in 40 villages of Bellary District were engaged in unauthorized “float-ore” mining and a number of children were engaged therein. 4.240 In the District of Bagalkot, the team of the Investigation Division found several children 54 NHRC