RIGHTS OF THE VULNERABLE 1 79 total of 46,907 released labourers have been rehabilitated under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme. Of the remaining 2,085 cases, 2,028 were not pursued because of death or migration of the individuals concerned, and 57 cases are still pending for rehabilitation. There has been no detection of bonded labour after the special survey of 1997 ordered by the Apex Court in the year 1998. Only 35 bonded labourers of Orissa, released from Rajasthan in 1998, were rehabilitated in the State. Maharashtra (19 January 2002) 8.8 Only 20 out of a total of 35 districts have mandatory vigilance committees and Sub-divisional vigilance committees exist only in 46 places. A comparatively small number of 1,397 bonded labourers were released prior to 1997 and 1,305 of them were reported to have been rehabilitated. 17 bonded laboiuers were detected in a survey of 1997 in Thane district, of whom 9 were rehabilitated, and 3 cases were still being considered. Three bonded labourers were identified and released in 1999. Their rehabilitation is still pending. 33 more bonded labourers, who were detected in Ratnagiri district, were released on 6 July 2000 and sent to their native State, Tamil Nadu. However, no information was furnished about their rehabilitation. Bihar and Jharkhand 8.9 In a special meeting conducted by Dr Justice K. Ramaswamy on 19 February 2002, a petition was received from the South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude (SACCS), regarding the pending cases of rehabilitation of bonded child labourers belonging to Bihar and Jharkhand, who had been released in the carpet belt in Uttar Pradesh between the period 1994-2001. Their problems were discussed with the Labour Commissioners and Labour Secretaries of Bihar and Jharkhand, in the presence of the Director-General (Welfare), Union Labour Ministry. A total of 183 pending cases were identified, 143 of Bihar and 40 of Jharkhand. The Labour Secretaries, Bihar and Jharkhand, were supplied with full particulars of these persons by the General Secretary, SACCS. They were directed to trace these persons with the help of the branch office of SACCS in Patna, and take up questions relating to their rehabilitation with the Director-General (Welfare), Ministry of Labour, who responded to the Commission's moves very positively. ANNUAL REPORT 2001-2002