Visakhapatnam: 32 rescued labourers begin their journey to Odisha

Visakhapatnam: Their safe journey to freedom has come to a brief screeching halt but eventually resumed after a while. Thanks to the 'timely support' that came in handy.

Close to 32 bonded labourers hailing from Balangir, Odisha state, who have been freed in Anantapur district, got stranded at Visakhapatnam railway station on their way to native place as they had no money to board a connecting train to Kantabanji on Thursday.

The bonded labourers, including women and children, were finally liberated after remaining as bonded labourers for the past several months at Sagar brick kiln unit located at Kanumpalli, close to Bengaluru-Hyderabad highway in Anantapur district.

At Sagar brick kiln, they were forced to work under unhealthy living condition sans potable drinking water and enough food. Narrating their harrowing experience, the Odisha-based labourers mentioned that they were forced to work for over 15 hours a day and were deprived of basic amenities such as electricity and drinking water. "Women and children were abused, and we were ill-treated. When we fell ill, our children were engaged in the job and were also beaten up," recalls Atchut Bhai, who worked for over five months at the unit.

However, help came in the form of human rights activists as the labourers forwarded video messages to them. "The videos thus received were re-forwarded to Anantapur District Collector wherein the district machinery along with officials concerned responded promptly and got the victims unshackled from the slavery," says Sushant Panigrahi, president of Kalahandi Balangir Koraput Resource Centre. He stated that the rescued labourers belong to SC, ST and OBC.

Since the rescued labourers have to reach Kantabanji via Visakhapatnam, they were not able to proceed due to lack of money. "When they contacted us again, we connected them to Visakhapatnam-based NGOs – Samata and Association for Urban and Tribal Development (AUTD)," Sushant told The Hans India.

The local NGOs chipped in to support their onward journey to their native state of Odisha. "We provided them food and water. When we contacted Anantapur District Collector S Satyanarayana, he arranged Rs 20,000 for their (labourers) travel expenses. Apart from the train tickets, amount was also distributed to them to meet their journey expenses," says Pragada Srinivasu, secretary of AUTD.

The rescued families, including months old babies, finally left for Odisha by Thursday evening via a connecting train in Visakhapatnam.