Five women among nine bonded labourers rescued from rice mill in Vellore

VELLORE: Nine persons belonging to four families employed in a rice mill as bonded labourers were rescued on Tuesday by the authorities of the Revenue department in Vellore.

A team of officials led by Vellore Sub-Collector K Megaraj raided Sharatha Rice Mill located at Madanakuppam, falling under Katpadi Taluk, to rescue the workers belonging to the Irula tribe.

“Four families were engaged in the rice mill as bonded labourers. We rescued them on Tuesday after receiving information,” Megaraj said.

The rescued labourers were from Sethilapakkam, Tiruvallur district and KBR Puram in Puthoor Mandal, Chittoor district of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

S Saravanan, 26, his wife Sonia,21, M Nagaraj,25, M Kumari, 45, S Rajendran, 26m R Sudha,24, R Suguna,20, V Suresh,33, and S Shanthi,20, were handed the release order by the Sub-Collector.

Six children were also part of the families rescued from bondage.

Officials from the Revenue, Rural Development and representatives of International Justice Mission (IJM), an NGO, and the Bonded Labour Vigilance Committee too accompanied the Sub-Collector in the operation.

Advocate M Raja, a representative of IJM, said the families were employed in rice mill for about 4 years and were paid a paltry amount as wages.

“Each family taken Rs. 50,000 as advance. They were paid wages of just Rs.300 per week for each of them,” he said.

They were exploited day and night in the mill.

The Revenue department officials informed that a police complaint would be lodged against the mill owner Pasupathi and would be booked under the relevant sections of The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976.