Koraput: The district labour officials of Koraput in association with the Laxmipur police rescued as many as 17 migrant women labourers from Telangana Friday.
The rescued women belong to Piksadanga and Chuchukana villages of Pipalapadar panchayat of Koraput district. All of them were held captive and forced to work under severe pressure for three months until they were rescued, sources said.
Acting on reports of labourers enslaved at various brick-kilns near Hyderabad, Koraput Collector K Sudarshan Chakraborty and SP had directed the district police and labour officials to rescue the workers.
As per the orders, the police and labour officials rescued the women from a brick kiln, around 100km away from Hyderabad.
Talking to the media, the rescued women said that two brokers Baralukana village of Rayagada district had taken them to Telangana in October this year to work in a brick kiln with a promise of better wage.
The incident came to light when the kin of these women had gone to Telangana recently to bring them back to the village. But the brick kiln owner told them that he would let the women go only after the brokers arrive.
The kin later came to their village and informed the media.
Two contractors had lured the labourers on the pretext of providing lucrative jobs.
Earlier, seven labourers who were held captive at a brik kiln in Vizianagaram were rescued and brought back to Odisha December 21. Prior to this, five Odia labourers had managed to escape after the brick kiln owner allegedly threw acid and cut the finger of two labourers in Andhra Pradesh.
PNN