Six persons, two men , three women and a child, allegedly employed as bonded labourers in brick kilns at Kaniyambadi Madura Pudur village near Vellore were rescued by revenue officials on Friday following a complaint from the Released Bonded Labourers Association.
According to sources, Vellore Sub-CollectorK. Meghraj was informed about the family, belonging to Irula community from Vandavasi, engaged as bonded labourers in brick kilns functioning in Kaniyambadi on the outskirts of Vellore town.
The family members of K. Murali, 40, of Aarasur village in Vandavasi taluk, Tiruvannamalai, his wife Parimala, daughter Nithya, his another daughter Priya, her husband Ramu were working in the units for more than four years, as Murali borrowed ₹20,000 from employer A. Kannan of Kaniyambadi, official sources said.
All the rescued workers were sent back to their village after the distribution of release certificates by the Revenue authorities.
Indian Red Cross Society’s Katpadi unit has donated grocery items for the families of rescued labourers.
Secretary S.N. Janardhanan and other office-bearers met them at the sub-Collector’s chamber and asked him to hand over their contributions to the families.
Surveys planned
Since there has been frequent intimation from NGOs and other volunteers on the bonded labour issue, it has been planned to conduct a survey in these industries to ascertain if there were any bonded labourers working in afactory or unit, said Mr. Meghraj.
This was not the first time the revenue officials were getting information on bonded labourers. Concrete steps would be taken to address this problem, he added.
