The National Human Rights Commission ( NHRC) will hold a workshop here on Thursday to sensitise senior officials and those working in brick kilns and other related industries about debt bondage.
The day-long workshop, to be held in collaboration with the Government of Punjab, the 'Elimination of the Bonded Labour System', will be held at Judicial Academy here and it will seek to spread awareness on the matter among district magistrates, sub-divisional magistrates, state labour officers and members of vigilance committees.
The other participating State from the region would be Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, UT of Chandigarh and Jammu & Kashmir.
The workshop also hopes to sensitise people working in brick kilns, stone crushing and other related industries on the process of identification, release and rehabilitation of bonded labourers, under the provisions of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, and other legislations.
The NHRC was asked by the Supreme Court in 1997 to be a part of the monitoring of the implementation of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976. Since then, the rights body has been overseeing the implementation of the Act in different parts of the country, it said.
The Workshop, being chaired by Justice D. Murugesan, Member, NHRC, will see participants like senior officers of the Government of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, UT of Chandigarh and Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab State Human Rights Commission, NGOs and representatives of brick kilns, stone crushing and other related industries, Academicians and Students, Research Scholars from Punjab University, Indian School of Business and Post Graduate Government College for Girls, Chandigarh.