Bhubaneswar: In the wake of rescue of 15 bonded labourers including nine minors from Bolangir district who were trapped in the brick kilns of Peddapalli in Telangana, activists of Civil Liberties Committee of Telangana have decided to approach the Home Minister and labour commissioner of Telangana to intervene.
The rescued migrant labourers have reached Bolangir Railway station in the wee hours of Sunday, thanks to the intervention of the activists.
According to the Civil Liberties Committee joint secretary Madana Kumaraswamy, one of the trapped labourers, Megha, contacted him February 7 and informed him that around 26 labourers including him from Sikuan village in Debgaon block of Bolangir district had been working at MAS brick kiln at Kalvecharla in Peddapalli district of Telangana. The kiln owned by Arif had allegedly tortured the labourers and did not pay them wages or food. He used to offer them only Rs 100 as remuneration per week.
Arif is reported to have thrashed the labourers mercilessly whenever they demanded their dues or offered resistance to this inhuman behavior. The Civil Liberties Committee along with other NGOs from Bolangir and Telangana approached the authorities and police officials in Telangana. Kumaraswamy also apprised the state labour commissioner in Bhubaneswar about the plight of the migrant labourers.
Subsequently, Arif released the labourers from his captivity under pressure. He, however, thrashed the labourers including nine minors before releasing them.
Speaking to Orissa POST, Kumarswamy lamented, “The governments in Telangana and Odisha are not serious about the plight of the inter-state migrant labourers. Several courts including the Supreme Court and rights panels had raised the issue of migrant labourers from Odisha being tormented in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.”