Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has sought Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s intervention to get thousands of brick kiln workers in Jammu and Kashmir freed from bonded labour.
In a letter received by the Chief Minister’s Office on Friday, and accessed by The Hindu , Mr. Ramesh has expressed his concern over the scourge of bonded labour in the brick kilns of the State and asserted that it was primarily the State government’s responsibility “to ensure proactive investigation to end the menace.” He has drawn Mr. Abdullah’s attention to a recent incident of two NGOs freeing a group of bonded labourers from a kiln in Kathua district.
On February 16, The Hindu reported how the NGOs — International Justice Mission and Volunteers of Social Justice — got the group of 117 labourers, including 48 children, released from the clutches of some brick kiln owners and traffickers.
“These bonded labourers belong to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribe communities and had been trafficked largely from the districts like Janjgir-Champa, Raipur, Raigarh and Bilaspur [Chhattisgarh]. The victims were subjected to inhuman treatment, both when they were under custody as well as when they tried to escape with the intervention of some NGOs. As you know, our country abolished bonded labour through the Bonded Labour System Abolition Act, 1976. However, it is painfully clear with every passing day that this evil still continues,” Mr. Ramesh said in the letter, a copy of which has been sent to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh.
Not bonded labours: DCDeputy Commissioner of Kathua Jitendra Kumar Singh, however, insisted that none of the 117 people taken away by the NGOs was a bonded labourer. “We found none of them as bonded labourer. I didn’t declare them so, nor did I issue a release certificate,” Mr. Singh told The Hindu . Four district officers, including Assistant Labour Commissioner, carried out the inquiry.
“However, the violation of Inter-State Migrant Workers Act was observed. I accordingly wrote a letter to the Labour Commissioner, Nirmal Sharma, for legal action under the rules. She has not responded yet,” he added. Ms. Sharma was not available for comment.
