HOSAPETE : In a major crackdown on bonded labour, the Vijayanagara district administration rescued 37 migrant workers from Odisha who were allegedly subjected to inhuman conditions at a brick kiln in Nandibandi village of Mariyammanahalli hobli, within the district.
The rescue operation was conducted under the direct supervision of Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kavita Mannikeri, prompted by credible information furnished by Belagavi-based NGO Spandana. Acting with speed, Assistant Commissioner Vivekananda and his team raided the kiln premises and discovered labourers housed in appallingly deplorable surroundings.
The rescued group comprised 10 children, 11 women and 16 men, all hailing from Odisha’s Balangir and Nabarangpur districts. According to reports, the workers were kept in cramped four-foot-wide huts with no basic amenities.
They alleged they had been brought to Vijayanagara nearly six months earlier after being promised employment and fair wages. Each labourer, they said, paid an advance of Rs 40,000 before being transported from Odisha.
The kiln owners purportedly assured them that they would be engaged for only six months and remunerated based on work output. However, the labourers claimed that despite toiling relentlessly throughout the week, entire families were paid merely Rs 500 per week. When some attempted to return home after the completion of the promised period, they were allegedly threatened and informed that they could not leave because they had already accepted the advance.
The victims further stated that security personnel were deployed to prevent them from communicating with the outside world, effectively keeping them in confinement.