Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu), December 24
When tennis ace Roger Federer was playing cricket in Cuddalore District, Collector Gagandeep Singh Bedi was rescuing bonded labourers.
Fifteen bonded labourers and five children have been rescued from a brick kiln in Kerala after a month of having walked into the trap.
They were forced to work for 12 hours a day without pay or adequate food, far away from their home in a village near Vriddhachalam in Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu.
District officials rescued the group after one of them escaped from bondage, uncovering an organised racket in inveigling poor people from the backward village of Alichikudi. A 'broker' had promised them Rs 110 a day as wages and arranged for an advance of Rs 500 to each of them.
“Within 10 days of reaching the brick kiln at Koranial village in Aluva taluk of Ernakulam district in Kerala, we knew we have been taken for a ride. They gave us some provisions, but made it clear that we are to work for at least six months. They made us work for 12 hours a day and occasionally slapped us and didn't allow women a break even to feed their babies,”
said 56-year-old B. Kaliyamoorthy.
District collector Gagandeep Singh Bedi, who got them released by sending revenue officials and taking the help of the Ernakulam district police, said he had heard from an activist about the plight of the labourers in the brick kiln. Enquiries revealed that a broker had taken them to a brick kiln owned by one Haniffa.
“They were given some tokens that could be exchanged for food items, but were not paid. They had long working hours, and were apparently ill-treated,” Mr Bedi said. He deputed a team of officials from the Revenue and Police Departments. The District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police, Ernakulam, helped them rescue the group from the employer.
K. Saradha, 37, said she, her daughter Vennila, and a relative, Lakshmi, were taken as labourers, while her younger daughter, Anjali, 12, was taken away as domestic help at the employer’s residence. However, when the girl refused to work, she was beaten up. Vennila, a 19-year-old widow with a six-month-old infant, was not even allowed to breast-feed her baby.
Balakrishnan, who had managed to give the slip to the employer and his men, said he had pleaded with the boss to treat them better and pay them the promised amount, but was curtly told that there would be no pay until they worked for at least six months. “We can’t let you go out, or pay you now, as you’ll not return. That’s why we are going to hold you for at least six months,” he quoted the employer as saying.
Mr Bedi said necessary arrangements were being made for the rehabilitation of the bonded labourers as per law.
District officials said an initial sum of Rs 1000, along with some essential items and utensils, would be given to each of those released from bondage. They are likely to get up to Rs 20,000 each for their rehabilitation from the government.
The labourers were brought to the district collector so that they could apprise him of their bondage and flight to freedom.
