STATE EDITIONS
20 LABOURERS TRAPPED IN BRICK KILNS OF K’TAKA
Tuesday, 03 December 2013
| PNS | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar
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The
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has directed the District Magistrates
of Bangalore and Bargarh to submit the action taken reports (ATRs) within 15
days on the complaints pertaining to 20 bonded labourers from Odisha trapped in
the brick kilns of Ankela in Karnataka.
Acting on a petition
filed by Dr Subash Mahaptra, a human rights activist, the Commission has issued
the directives. As per the petition, as many as 20 poor labourers from
Katangpali and Talpali villages of Paikmaal in Bargarh district had migrated to
Anakela district of Karnatak to eke out a living by working in brick kilns.
However, as ill fate
would have it their plight started just after their landing at Anakela as they
were pushed to work hard for 12 hours a day and at times without proper food
and clothes by the brick kiln owner Madhu NR. Besides being compelled to work
in harsh conditions, they were subjected to inhuman torture by the employer who
used to confine them in isolated places for days together. Moreover, when their
spouses opposed to this, they were abused and even sexually exploited by Madhu
and his associates. Moreover, the petition said, no public authority there paid
any heed to the complaints of the hapless labourers.
The NHRC has directed the
DM of Bangalore to conduct an inquiry to identify the bonded labourers, if any,
there, besides looking into the fact that whether the employer obtained license
from competent authority and whether the Minimum Wage Act, Contract Wage Act,
provisions of Inter-State Workmen Migrant (Regulation of Employment and
Conditions of Service) Act 1979 and Minimum Wage Act 1948 were followed and
facilities extended to the labourers were adequate.
The NHRC has also
directed the DM to probe whether the Vigilance Monitoring Committee at district
level has been formed as per the Bonded Labour System (Abolitions) Act of 1976
and other provisions. The Bargarh DM has been asked to probe the labourers’
residential addresses and submit the ATR within 15days.
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