39 labourers were neither paid wages nor allowed to go back to their hometown.
New Delhi: Poor labourers, in search of a livelihood, often travel to other states, only to be exploited by labour contractors. For instance, the poor labourers of Betul and Harda (Madya Pradesh), who had traveled to Karnataka in search of work, were tortured by a labour contractor and taken hostage. The injustice was faced by 39 labourers who were neither paid wages nor allowed to go back to their hometown.
To come out of the veritable hell, the troubled labourers called their relatives back home and shared the agony inflicted upon them by the contractor. The relatives then contacted the nearest Baitul police station and told the police about the situation; the police discussed the matter for three days without taking any action. Interestingly, the two social workers, Karuna Shankar Shukla and Rakesh Bakoria, learned about the workers kept hostage and got in touch with a Supreme Court lawyer Vikrant Singh Kumre, giving him full information about the matter. He then took the incident very seriously and immediately contacted Karnataka DGP office, discussed the matter with Kalaburagi SP (in Karnataka) to free the hostage labourers from the clutches of the contractor, and demanded a legal action against the contractor.
It should be noted that even in the last month, 19 labourers of Harda district were rescued from Karnataka. At that time as well, senior advocate Vikrant Kumre played an important role in bringing them back. The Sunday Guardian got in touch with Vikrant Kumre. He said, “Lately, we have done three rescues from Karnataka and all the rescued persons were working as labourers there. They all belonged to the tribal community, some were from Korku tribe and the maximum were from the Gaunda tribe. They all came from MP’s three tribal dominated districts, Betul, Harda and Khandwa.These people come from forest-dwelling villages and reach the places in search of work through labour contractors. In recent times, there have been three rescues where I have got these troubled labourers out from different districts Karnataka, one rescue was also from Maharashtra Kolhapur.”
He further added: “The moment I got the news, I immediately took the required steps, and within 24 hours, the rescue operation was completed. After contacting officials in the state, they assured me that the response will be met as soon as possible, the officials were very active and helpful.”
Harda workers often migrate in search of livelihood along with workers from the adjoining districts of Khandwa. In the past too, the labourers from both the districts have been held hostage and rescued from Bijapur in Karnataka. According to information from Harda district, 17 tribals of village Ruthuwala and Raktia workers were also taken hostage.
Reportedly, Sitaram and Rajkumar were the two contractors of Dhulghat in Maharashtra who had committed the fraud. They got all their work done in their sugarcane fields and then gave no wages and salaries. At the same time, the farm owner overseeing his sugarcane farm had beaten them up, tortured them physically and held them hostage.