BALANGIR: A pair of twins of Hianl village under Turekela police limits died after they were allegedly denied their mother’s breastfeeding by a brick kiln owner in Andhra Pradesh.
The incident came to light after a villager Nirakar Nag filed a complaint at Turekela police station recently.
Sources said on November 14, 2015, four families of the village migrated to Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh and were engaged in a brick kiln at Karabadi by Jagdish, a middleman, of Kukudahad village.
On January 24, Lata Panikar had given birth to the twins (a boy and a girl). Later, both the babies were denied breastfeeding as their mother was forced to work at the kiln. The baby girl died a few days after her birth while the baby boy died in the village after the mother returned this month.
Nag alleged that though the labourers had requested the middleman and owner of the brick kiln, K Subbarao, to set them free, they ignored their plea. Jagdish had also taken `one lakh as advance payment from Subbarao but paid meagre amount to the labourers, he added.
Meanwhile, District Assistant Labour Officer Dileswar Khakha visited Hianl village and inquired into the matter. A Kalahandi-based human rights activist Dillip Kumar Das also filed a case in the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in this regard.