Escape to freedom proves fatal

March 16, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:42 am IST - KARIMNAGAR:

In a tragic incident, two migrant brick kiln labourers from Odisha were found dead under suspicious circumstances in SRSP canal at Andugulapalli village under Basanthnagar police station limits on Sunday.

Peddapalli CI P. Prashanth Reddy said that the brick kiln workers, Lobo Pathra (40) and Kamala Kantha Goher (30), residents of Sardapur village of Naupada district in Odisha escaped from a brick kiln camp on Monday night. While fleeing from the kiln, where hundreds of fellow Odisha migrants are working, they reportedly came in contact with live electric wires put up by local farmers to protect their crops from wild boars.

Bodies ‘dumped’ in canal

Both the labourers died on the spot. The farmers, who visited their fields in the early hours, found the bodies and allegedly dumped them in the nearby SRSP canal. On Sunday, the locals found the decomposed bodies in the canal and alerted the police.

The police fished out the bodies and conducted a post-mortem on the spot. The doctors said that the labourers sustained burns on their feet and died. The CI said that the bodies were thrown into the canal as was evident from the spot where they were reportedly electrocuted.

“We are probing in whose fields these labourers died and who had dumped their bodies into the canal. A case has been registered,” Mr. Prashant Reddy said.

The latest tragic incident brings into sharp focus the sufferings of the Odisha brick kiln labourers who work under inhuman conditions for long hours. Not only are they ill-treated by the owners, they are even denied basic facilities at these sites.

Child labourers

Statistics reveal that there are 220 brick kilns in Peddapalli, Sultanabad, Kamanpur, Choppadandi, Jagtial, Karimnagar and other mandals. In each kiln, at least 80 to 100 persons, including women, men and children, work round-the-clock.

Karimnagar Deputy Labour Commissioner A. Gandhi said that the Peddapalli Labour Officer has been asked to visit the brick kiln site and enquire into the incident. “We will ensure that suitable compensation is provided to the families of the deceased persons,” he said, adding that the department has been conducting awareness meetings with brick kiln owners on the Inter-State migration Act of 1979. They had also registered three cases against the brick kiln owners for the violation of the act four months ago in the district.

Two brick kiln labourers found dead in SRSP canal, after they come in contact with live electric wires while escaping from Karimnagar

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