KRISHNAGIRI: Five tribal children from a family near Shoolagiri, working in cattle grazing for a hotel as bonded laborers, were rescued with the support of NGO Adhiboomi, the labour, revenue and police departments.
V Jagadheeswaran, a Krishnagiri district vigilance committee member and also a member working with the Adhiboomi Charitable Trust, told TNIE, "On Monday, C Nagaraj of Gopachandram village near Shoolagiri, residing near Panchapalli in Dharmapuri, petitioned the Dharmapuri collector with the support of the Tribal People Development Association. He stated that his five children were working as bonded labourers near Shoolagiri at a hotel and were involved in cattle grazing. Following this, the issue was communicated to the Krishnagiri district child protection unit."
"On Tuesday, we approached Krishnagiri Collector C Dinesh Kumar, who ordered District Child Protection Officer and Assistant Commissioner of Labour R Madheswaran and Shoolagiri Tahsildar Valarmathi to reach the spot," he said.
"The team of officials visited a hotel at Shoolagiri and rescued a 17-year-old boy and his 15-year-old sister, employed by V Sathish of Usthanapalli. Their siblings, a 13-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl, were also rescued from Sathish's custody. In 2016, Nagaraj was working on Sathish's farmland, and he allegedly received Rs 20,000 from him and was unable to repay the amount," he added.
"In 2020, he migrated to Panjapalli, leaving his five children in the custody of Sathish and another villager, V Krishnappa of Usthanapalli, for cattle grazing and farming activities. Nagaraj had agreed to send his 17-year-old son to work for Rs 20,000 per annum, his 15-year-old girl for Rs 12,000 per annum, and the other three children for Rs 4,000 each per annum for the past five years," Jagadheeswaran said.
However, Nagaraj did not receive the said amount for the past five years. Last month, Sathish and Nagaraj had a dispute related to money and lodged a complaint with Collector R Sadheesh.
On Tuesday, officials managed to rescue four children. The fifth child, an 11-year-old boy, had gone for cattle grazing, and the team of officials walked for around three kilometres and rescued him. All five children were sent to Government Krishnagiri Medical College Hospital for age confirmation.
A revenue department official from Hosur told TNIE, "Based on age confirmation, bonded labourer release certificates were given to the five children on Friday night by Hosur Sub-Collector (in-charge) S Thanajeyan, and they were sent to a children's home. Also, the revenue department will complain to the Shoolagiri police station against the two employers."
Shoolagiri police are inquiring about the issue with the two employers, and they will be booked under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976.