Four families of bonded labourers comprising 12 persons including four children (3 girls and one boy), and two children (a girl and a boy) who were not engaged in bonded labour but were living with their bonded parents were rescued from a brick kiln in Nanjukondapuram village near Kaniyambadi in Vellore district on Thursday morning. The rescue operation was carried out by a team of officials of the revenue department in association with a team of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Crime Branch CID and representatives of the International Justice Mission (IJM), Chennai.
M. Vasanthi, Revenue Divisional Officer, Vellore who led the operation on behalf of the revenue department said that the department swung into action on the orders of the District Collector R. Nanthagopal following information provided by the IJM about the practice of bonded labour in the said village. A surprise raid was carried out by the revenue officials in the brick kiln owned by R. Saravanan in Kollaimedu area of Nanjukondapuram at about 11.50 a.m. on Thursday.
Three of the rescued bonded labourers including 9-year-old girl Sneha hailed from Mambakka Chathiram near Tiruttani in Tiruvallur district, six from Vilangadu in Naganadhi in Vellore taluk, and three including 14-year-old Sarathkumar from Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh. Two children—Chinnathai (5) and Muthukumar (4)—were not bonded, but they were rescued along with their bonded parents Viji (33) and Poongavanam (27) and sister Sneha of Mambakka Chathiram.
Enquiries by the RDO revealed that the eight adult labourers were engaged in cutting bricks in the kiln after taking an advance of Rs.15,000 each from the kiln owner. They were getting wages of Rs.300 per week. The adults were abused by the owner in vulgar language and were not allowed by him to take care of their children. The rescued labourers told the RDO that they were forced to work for 12 hours daily and were occasionally beaten and harassed.
Ms. Vasanthi said that out of the compensation of Rs.20,000 which rescued labourers were eligible to receive from the government by way of rehabilitation assistance, each of the 12 labourers were given an initial amount of Rs.1000. The remaining Rs.19,000 would be given later. Since the rescued workers wanted to return to their native places, the revenue department was making arrangements for their safe return to their native places on Friday.
Eight adult labourers were engaged in cutting bricks after taking an advance of Rs. 15,000 each
