Following an alert from the Jharkhand government, officials from the Labour department cracked down on an illegal manpower agency in Red Hills that supplied over 120 workers from that State to a company in Tada in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday. Investigation is on to ascertain if they were bonded labourers.
A group of 120 labourers from Jharkhand were allegedly brought to Chennai during lockdown and sent to work in Tada. The workers wanted to return home and complained to their relatives that they were harassed.
Subsequently, the Jharkhand government wrote to Mohammed Nasimuddin, Additional Chief Secretary, Labour and Employment Department, Tamil Nadu. “The complaint was forwarded to us and we rushed to the manpower agency in M.A. Nagar, Red Hills. A person by name Satish was there and he agreed that labourers were brought from Jharkhand but he denied harassing them. However, they did not have any licence to run the manpower agency,” said S. Sudha, Assistant Commissioner of Labour, Enforcement, Tiruvallur district.
Inquiry revealed that the labourers were brought here using e-pass. “We are checking how they did this. Besides, we are also checking if they are bonded labourers,” said Ms. Sudha.
