Bonded workers rescued from mill

CHENNAI: Thirteen bonded labourers, including five children were rescued from a rice mill in Ponneri by authorities and social activists on Thursday.Revenue divisional officer of Ponneri, Kandasamy told Express that his department along with activists from the International Justice Mission conducted the rescue operation at the rice mill near Red Hills in Ambedkar Nagar following a tip off about workers living there in inhuman conditions.“We rescued five men, three women and five children. The rescued workers, from the Irula community, hailed from Sadras, Marakanam and Vaiyavur in Kancheepuram district. One of them was from Puttur in Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh,” he said.Alice Sukanya, director of Casework, International Justice Mission, said the labourers had been brought out of the mill after four to six years in bondage. This is the third such incident in the area.Ajay, one of the rescued workers, recounted the horrors of life for the labourers at the mill. “We were beaten, denied salaries which the mill owner had promised. My one-year-old daughter died because I wasn’t allowed to take her outside for emergency healthcare,” he claimed.Kandasamy said action would be initiated against the owner and a broker. The complaint included sections 16, 17, 18, 20 of the Bonded Labour Systems Abolition Act 1976. If convicted under the charges, Kathiresan, the owner and the broker (known as “PT”) could be sentenced to seven years in prison.Alice added that Kathiresan paid the victims  `75 per person, per day far below the Tamil Nadu Minimum Wage of `136.02 per day and labourers were made to work more than 14 hours a day.They were also verbally and physically abused, she said.Kandaswamy issued release certificates to nine of the rescued workers, including a 11-year-old child, identifying them as victims of bonded labour, entitling them to rehabilitation.