The Vellore sub-division Vigilance Committee along with district officials, during a surprise check, found 21 persons, including 12 children, at a brick kiln in Nagal village near Gudiyatham. The persons belonging to six families were rescued and produced before the Revenue Divisional Officer, Vellore.
The committee members accompanied by the tahsildar of Gudiyatham and village administrative officer rescued the bonded labourers – nine adults and 12 children. The children were aged 2 to 14 years.
C. P. Desi, one of the members of the vigilance committee, said each family had borrowed money ranging from ₹7,000 to ₹20,000 as advance from the owner of the brick kiln and were working for a period ranging from one-and-a-half years to seven years.
Some of the children were studying in the nearby school.
“We conducted a check at a stone quarry at Kondasamuthram, a poultry farm that has 100 to 150 workers and an incense stick-making unit with 350 women workers at Keelalathur. No one was engaged as a bonded labourer in these places. We then visited the brick kiln at Kollaimedu in Nagal village where we found these families,” Mr. Desi said.
Release certificates
Collector S. A. Raman handed over release certificates to 10 persons, including a 14-year-old boy.
The roles and responsibilities of vigilance committees were established under sections 13 and 14 of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976.
As per the Act, every State government is required to constitute vigilance committees in each district and each sub-division as it may think appropriate.
The Tamil Nadu government issued the vigilance committee guidelines in 2015 that states that these committees should ensure that the worksites of industries prone to having bonded labour are visited and checked at least once in three years.
