Odisha people rotting in Prakasam brick kilns freed

Infants, toddlers among 120 rescued

​Ongole: Janani Hial, a seven-month pregnant from Tanla village of Belpara tehsil in Balangir district of Odisha followed her husband Gobordhana Hial to Sri Balatripurasundaridevi Brick Industries at Tripurantakam in Prakasam district in December 2016, after clearing a debt in the village and making arrangements for her old in-laws to live for six months in their absence. She found herself safe as many of her friends and relatives followed them to the same industry at that time.

But her dreams of having a beautiful baby thrashed after the delivery in January when the doctors suggested her family to shift to the Government General Hospital in Guntur for ventilator support for the baby.

The poor family members requested the owner of the brick industry for financial support, but he didn’t care. Gobordhana and his relatives went to work the very next day, after completing the cremation of the baby, who breathed his last just after a few hours of birth.

Gobordhana and his wife are bonded labour in that bricks industry, who along with hundreds of others work from 3 AM to 12 AM every day in the kiln. When bringing them from Odisha, the owner D Venkateswara Reddy gave their family members Rs. 25000 per head as advance and said that he will provide healthy food, decent accommodation, and medical facilities.

The poor people cleared the debts and given some advance for the daily needs of their old parents to the groceries shop owners in the village. But after they reached the kiln, the owner started to beat and manhandles the workers, who didn’t heed his word.

Chaubana Barik from Chhuinara in the same Belpara tehsil said, “About 30 families from Beheramunda, Gudighat, Chhuinara, Ghagurli, Kadli, Kapsipalli, Hatkal, Tanla and nearby places came to work in Sri Balatripurasundaridevi Bricks Industries in Tripurantakam in December 2016.

After reaching the place, the owner said that we should cook the food with our earned money and there would be no other facilities would be provided to us. He beats us for not working in speed, taking a few minutes of rest. He broke the head of one and hand of another at the kiln for not working as he expected, few days ago. Unable to bear the torture from him, few people ran away to home.”

In the first week of April, Sanjit Suna and five others escaped from the clutches of the owner and complained to Ashish Thakare, Collector of Balangir about the pathetic condition of their people in the bricks kiln.

Balangir collector wrote a letter to the Prakasam district on April 6, requesting for the release and repatriation of the Odia migrant workmen from the clutches of Venkateswara Reddy, along with the names and addresses of the people. The collector office neglected the request and didn’t show any concern towards the poor people from Odisha rotting in the district.

As there is no response from the Prakasam district administration, the local NGOs in the Odisha contacted HELP, an NGO in Andhra Pradesh for help. The NGO sent the information to the secretary of district legal services authority, T Raja Venkatadri, who took it as a suo moto case and sought directions from the district judge and chairman of DLSA MJ Priyadarsini. The judge ordered the superintendent of police, district child protection officer, children and women welfare committee and childline officials to raid the industry on Tuesday.

When reached the industry, the officials were shocked to find that children from age 5 also working in the kiln. They rescued a total of 120 people, including 37 youngsters of age between 5 to 18 years and 16 infants and toddlers.

Priyadarsini said that the DLSA is working to provided a rehabilitation compensation from the state and central governments to the people and order the administration to make arrangements for them to reach their native place safely.

Raja Venkatadri said, “The DLSA is registering a case under sec 16 of Bonded Labor (Abolition) Act 1976 against the owner while the police will file a cognisable offense case under section 22 of the same act. The labor department also will initiate action on them for not implementing of minimum wages and the total amount will be distributed to the workers.”

When asked for the reason of migration, Gobordhana said, “We get hardly Rs 100 per day for working in our place. So are forced to migrate to other places like these and suffer here. We get Rs. 25000 per head as advance and Rs. 70 per making 1000 bricks.

Though all family members including the children work for 20 hours a day, we make about 2000 bricks. We are not complaining about the owner for the low wages, but pleading him to consider us also as fellow human beings and provide medical help and some rest for the ill and injured people. The fate of poor people is nothing but rotting in hell and always the same, no matter wherever they live and work.”