A 12-year-old boy has been hired at Rs 1,500 per month for door-to-door garbage collection by a NGO in partnership with the Tinsukia Municipal Board in various wards here.

“I am 12 and I come with a vehicle to collect garbage from door-to-door. I get Rs 1,500 per month,” Vikash told The Telegraph while collecting garbage from a lane in ward 6 here on Wednesday.

When contacted, the chairperson of Tinsukia Municipal Board, Dipti Das, said, “There is no information of any minor being engaged in garbage collection work. The project is being implemented by an NGO, Care Northeast Foundation, on a pilot-project basis.”

“The supervisor is the owner and he pays us,” said Raju, who got down from the garbage-collecting vehicle, very reluctant to divulge their names. On further questioning, Raju named an employee of the Tinsukia Municipal Board, identifying him as the owner of the vehicle and supervisor, who got him this work and pays him.

“We move out at 7am and collect garbage till 1pm,” he added.

Tinsukia Municipal Board junior engineer Nabojyoti Das said, “According to our official records, there is no minor engaged in door-to-door garbage collection. Half of workers are from the municipal board and we pay them. The remaining workers has been engaged by the NGO and we do not pay these workers directly,” Das added. Refuting the allegations, the director of Care Northeast Foundation, Sanjay Kumar Gupta, said, “I am working with a child rights organisation for past 17 years and there is no question of hiring a minor for garbage collection.”

“We roll out 16 vehicles to cover 10 of 15 wards. Each vehicle has a supervisor, two workers besides a driver. Fifty per cent of the workers are under Tinsukia Municipal Board and are paid by it. The remaining workers are on the muster roll of civic body and we pay them at approved rates by the civic body on monthly basis,” said Gupta. “Bio-data of all the workers are with civic body.”

“This is a pilot-project rolled out in July in partnership with civic body for Rs 111,000 per ward per month. However, the civic body has only paid us for the month of July after deducting Rs 128,000,” Gupta alleged.

Legal sources said children under 14 cannot be employed.