VIJAYAPURA: As many as 20 bonded labourers, including six women, from Telangana were rescued by the Vijayapura district administration from a government construction site in Chadchan taluk. The 20 bonded labourers, comprising 13 men, including a 4-year-old boy and 6 women, hail from Chaitanya Nagar village in Vikarabad district of Telangana. While the rescued men are aged between 19 and 60 years, the women are aged between 20 and 45.
After rescuing them, the district administration handed over them to the Vikarabad district administration. According to the district administration, action was taken based on a complaint filed by the National Adivasi Solidarity Council.
Deputy Commissioner of Vijayapura YS Patil alerted the sub-division magistrate of Indi who in turn conducted the operation and rescued them from a canal construction site. The work was implemented by Belagavi-based Aditya Constructions. The district administration had registered an FIR against the firm at Chadchan police station. One of the labourers said, “M Srinivas of the company paid us Rs 50,000 before we reached the site. Later, they promised us of paying only Rs 2,000 per month as wages ... however, they did not pay us. None of us had any kind of freedom and access to the outside world.”
“An employee of the company always kept a watch on us. The same employee used to take us to work and provide food at regular intervals ... but the company denied us access to the outside world. It was like house arrest. We have been working here for few months now.
We had lost all hope of our release ... but with the efforts of the local administration we were rescued,” the worker detailed expressing gratitude to DC Patil. The administration registered complaints against the company for violating Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act (1976). However, none of the employees have been arrested till now. Speaking to The New Sunday Express, Deputy Commissioner Patil said, “The aim of the Central government is to eradicate bonded labour system. Investigation is underway.”