CID tightens screws on brick kilns exploiting migrant labourers
KARIMNAGAR: The Crime Investigation Department (CID) has turned a special focus on brick kilns in the erstwhile Karimnagar district following complaints of migrant labourers suffering ill-treatment at the hands of their employers. There are also allegations that women workers are being subjected to sexual abuse. Apart from being forced to live in abject conditions, the hapless labourers are made to work during night hours too.
About 146 workers from Odisha toiling in various brick kilns in the Peddapalli district were rescued last month. According to CID reports, about 20,000 from Balangir, Bargarh, Khurdha and Sambalpur districts of Odisha are working in brick kilns in Peddapalli and Jagtial districts.
Karimnagar and Adilabad region Deputy Superintendent of Police (CID) Chelpuri Srinivas said brick kiln owners have their own rules and deny decent living conditions for workers like proper toilets, sheds, and worksite schools for their children. Some brick kiln owners allegedly force children also into work. Around 1,200 brick kilns exist in the erstwhile Karimnagar district.
An NGO based in Odisha alerted both Odisha and Telangana governments about the miserable situation of the workers, prompting Additional DGP of CID, Mahesh Bhagwat, to direct officials to conduct raids and rescue the labourers. The labour department has also failed to maintain records and put pressure on the brick kilns owners to abide by the agreement with workers.
The CID authorities who came to know about physical and sexual harassment of workers are determined to continue raids on brick kilns in Karimnagar and Adilabad districts, said Srinivas and requested people to bring to the notice of the police department any cases of exploitation of migrant workers.