CHENNAI: Amid stories of migrant workers struggling to get back home comes a horrific incident of five workers from Odisha allegedly being beaten up by a brick kiln owner and his associates in Tiruvallur district on Monday. The reason was their seeking permission to go back home. Two of the workers suffered serious injuries and were hospitalised. The workers alerted a few activists, who, in turn, informed the Revenue Department.
Officials rescued 244 other workers and housed them in a marriage hall. Police are on the lookout for the accused who are absconding. When the officials and activists reached the brick kiln at Pudukuppam village near Vengal on Monday night, they found the workers staying in abysmal condition and being given a paltry sum as wage. Arrangements have been made to send them to their native State by train.
K Krishnan, a social activist who helped rescue the workers, said a few of them even decided to walk back to Odisha against the will of their employer, which angered him. “Most of the workers did not have access to proper food. They told me that even if they had to die, they would prefer dying at home,” Krishnan said.