Telangana Labour department lays out action plan to tighten BLSA Act

In a recent consultation meeting among the Department of Labour and other stakeholder departments, a draft of the aforementioned action plan was mooted and discussed.
Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao
Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao

HYDERABAD: The Telangana government is laying out a State Action Plan in a bid to improve the delivery of rehabilitation and welfare measures to rescued bonded labourers and to make the State bondage-free.

The aim of the policy is to effectively enforce the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1976 (BLSA).
Discussions regarding the same came after several instances of delay in implementation of provisions under the BLSA Act. It was found that the rehabilitation measures enlisted in the BLSA Act failed to reach the victims like in the case of Chenchu tribals in Nagarkurnool, who were rescued in 2016 but still have not received their release certificate and the initial rehabilitation sum of Rs 20,000.

In a recent consultation meeting among the Department of Labour and other stakeholder departments, a draft of the aforementioned action plan was mooted and discussed.

One of the crucial takeaways of this plan, if introduced in the State, will be the mandatory issuing of release certificates to all rescued persons individually (not as a family unit) within 48 hrs and the disbursal of victim compensation as per the Central Sector Scheme (CSS) within 4 weeks of rescue. In addition to this, the timely replenishing of the district fund by sharing the rescued persons’ details with the Ministry of Labour and Employment would also be undertaken.

A crucial part of this entire undertaking will also involve the training and sensitisation of the task force members, stakeholders and vigilance committees to enforce BLSA and CSS. A serious gap is seen in terms of the Act’s scope and how it is understood by the officials who enforce it. The action plan also seeks to form a State-level Monitoring Committee on Bonded Labour Eradication (SLMCBLE) with the chief secretary of Labour Department at the helm.

Need for the action plan

Discussions regarding the action plan came after several instances of delay in implementation of provisions under the BLSA Act. It was found that the measures enlisted in the BLSA Act failed to reach
the victims

Monitoring committee

The action plan seeks to form a State-level Monitoring Committee on Bonded Labour Eradication with the chief secretary of Labour Dept at the helm

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