Nine bonded labourers from Odisha rescued from brick kiln in Mancherial

A team led by the Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) of the district, Arpitha Maryam Reddy, rescued nine bonded labourers including three children engaged by brick kilns at Indanpalli village in Jannaram mandal on Wednesday. The team comprised her counterpart from Odisha, local police and representatives of Divyadrishti, a non-voluntary organisation.

Mancherial: A team led by the Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) of the district, Arpitha Maryam Reddy, rescued nine bonded labourers including three children engaged by brick kilns at Indanpalli village in Jannaram mandal on Wednesday. The team comprised her counterpart from Odisha, local police and representatives of Divyadrishti, a non-voluntary organisation.

The voluntary organisation, in a statement, said that the team rescued labourers, lured from Odisha a month ago with false promises of Rs 40,000 per family for six months of loading and unloading work, who had been living under inhumane conditions in a brick kiln in Indanpalli village. They were engaged in moulding bricks. As the labourers were held captive when they prepared to leave the brick kiln.

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The representatives of the organisation said that laborers worked under surveillance of CCTV cameras, while only one person was permitted to leave the facility at a time to buy essentials under strict supervision. In the past month, only one worker was allowed outside the facility briefly. Their mobile phones were taken away, cutting off any contact with the outside world.

The rescue operation was initiated after the victims’ families approached the State Legal Services Authority in Odisha, which coordinated with their counterparts in Telangana. Led by Reddy and supported by local police, the operation successfully freed the workers from their plight. Bonded labour is most prevalent in the districts of Rangareddy, Karimnagar and Siddipet districts, the representatives stated.