MADURAI: Nearly eight months after the district administration distributed free house-site pattas to 14 rescued bonded labourers following a TNIE report published on November 18, 2025, titled “Two years after being rescued, 14 bonded labourers’ wait for documents sees no end in Madurai,” the land has neither been surveyed nor handed over, forcing the beneficiaries to continue living in an old Self-Help Group (SHG) building without basic amenities such as toilets or drinking water.
Speaking to TNIE, A Muthukaruppan (41) said the families received ration cards and voter IDs only recently and were unable to vote in the 2026 Assembly elections.
He said four families — Selvi (55) and Veeran (60), Maheswari (33) and Muthukaruppan (41), Kayalvizhi (23) and Guna (25), and Vijayashanthi (20) and Thirumoorthi (21) — were each allotted two cents of land, but repeated appeals to officials to hand over the sites had yielded no results.
He said the rescued labourers received only Rs 30,000 as relief after their rescue. More than two years later, all 14 beneficiaries, including four women and four children, continue to stay in the old single-room SHG building and work as labourers. Aadhaar cards and community certificates for the children were issued only after two years, he added.
The group, belonging to the same family, has been residing in the old SHG building at Pulipatti in Melur since April 20, 2023.
Speaking to TNIE, IRCDS (NGO, working for bonded labour welfare) president A Jeevandam said that under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, multiple government departments are required to work together to ensure the complete rehabilitation of labourers.
“The delay in surveying and handing over the land denies justice. Prolonged delays could even force them back into bonded labour. The authorities must intervene immediately and resolve the issue,” he said.
Responding to the issue, Melur Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) Sangeetha said. “With police support, we will soon conduct the land survey and hand over the plots to the beneficiaries.”
