NEW DELHI: Child welfare officers are struggling to decide what to do with 470 boys liberated in the largest ever raid on factories employing children in Delhi. Housed in a night shelter for beggars, the embroidery-workers, aged five to 14, were still waiting to hear their fate.

They were employed in workshops, sewing designs on high-fashion garments for the domestic and export markets. Embarrassed by the presence of child workers, officials launched a high-profile raid, but it ended in chaos, with city authorities uncertain what to do with the boys.

Charities questioned whether the children’s best interests were served. Some boys are to be returned by police to their village homes near Delhi this week, but many still want to work in the city to earn money for their families.

The roar of so many children confined to a courtyard is audible streets away. Barefoot, they swarm everywhere as charity workers make futile attempts to bring order. By Friday, charity worker Juneet Khan was trembling with exhaustion. ‘It is impossible to cope with so many at once. We need support,’ he said.

The children sleep on mattresses on the floor in windowless dormitories, 60 to a room. Delhi’s Labour Ministry planned the operation and hoped to round up 2,000 workers. But a tip-off meant many were removed.

Some were found locked in underground workshops, others hidden by their employers under piles of quilts. Raju, who claims to be 12, said he was sent to work to provide for his younger siblings, and says his family in the eastern state of Bihar needs him to start earning.

M. Rajan, a trustee of the charity Pratham, dismissed criticism of the raids.

‘The fact is that children are being saved.’ Outside the building adults claiming to be parents waved photographs of the children through the bars of the locked gate. ‘It’s an old trick for employers to pretend to be relatives,’ Rajan said. ‘We’re not letting anyone in.’—Dawn/The Observer News Service