HYDERABAD: “A few of Veerappa’s men came to our village and took around 20 of us to Karnataka for work, offering about Rs 20,000 and promising to take care of our families. We agreed and went with them. At first, we used to receive little cash whenever we asked for money. However, one day we were forced to sign a document which had terms written in a language we didn’t understand.
After signing them, we were told that we owe money to Veerappa and have to pay off our debt by working without getting paid anymore”, narrated Raju from Bandameedipalle in Mahbubnagar speaking about his experience as a bonded labourer. He belongs to one of the most socio-economically backward communities in the country, the Chenchu tribe.
For those in cities and towns who consider bonded labour as a thing of past, a practice that has seized to exist, here is a shocking fact —the NGO National Adivasi Security Council (NASC) claims to have rescued 580 bonded labourers in Telangana alone in the last three years and a staggering 6,429 from across South India in the last six years, mostly from work at construction sites, quarries, mines etc.
Like Raju, around 250 others rescued from the jaws of bonded labour congregated on Friday in Hyderabad at a convention on bonded labour to share their harrowing experiences, as this year observes 70th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Most of them belonged to the Chenchu tribe.
Even Raju’s brother Vijay, who was present there, shared his experience of being forced into labour at a construction site, where he lost his hand in a blast. He was neither provided any medical care nor any financial compensation by the contractor who had forced him into labour. D Sivamma, a Chenchu hailing from Yerrapenta village in Nagarkurnool district who was also rescued from bonded labour said, “We have no lands to our names and live in temporary settlements.
My village has more than 150 people with no ration or Aadhaar cards.” She added, “No drinking water facility is available. Sanitation is poor as the toilets whose construction started two years back under Swachh Bharat are yet to be completed. Many get bitten by snakes and die while attending nature’s call during night time.”