Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

State has over one lakh bonded labourers: study

CHENNAI: A study report on bonded and migrant labour in Tamil Nadu, released by the National Campaign Committee for Unorganized Sector Workers here on Saturday, put the number of bonded labourers in the State at over one lakh.

“There are several thousands of bonded labourers in the rice mills, stone quarries, brick kilns and textile mills of Tamil Nadu awaiting justice,” the committee’s regional coordinator R. Geetha said.

The report documents various case studies of bonded labourers from different districts, including Tiruvallur, Villupuram, Theni, Nagapattinam and Kancheepuram. It also draws attention to the caste-based bonded labour system involving ‘Thurumbars,’ traditionally employed for washing clothes and other household chores.

Some erstwhile bonded labourers, who managed to escape from the clutches of their employers following the intervention from social activists, shared their experience at the function.

Ellamma from Sengundram in Tiruvallur district said most of her relatives were bonded to the rice mill since childhood. “We worked almost through the day with little time to sleep. Most women had to live in perennial fear of being sexually harassed.” Though it was more than two years since her family was rescued from the mill, they were yet to get their release certificates by the district administration and two acres promised to them had not been given.

Ambika, a Thurumbar from Tiruvannamalai district, was on the verge of tears as she recounted the atrocities she suffered under her employers. “We had to tolerate insults and our children were denied entry in schools. We got only Rs.30 for a month’s work.” Bonded labourers from stone quarries of Karur were among the others who shared their stories.

Ms. Geetha also pointed out that construction labourers migrating from the southern districts of the State to Bangalore were given a raw deal. “Many of them work under unsafe conditions with poor pay.” The report also documents the poor working conditions of migrant construction workers in Chennai, who have no entitlements.

Former Additional Secretary of Labour, T.S. Shankaran, released the report. Former bureaucrat M.G. Devasahayam and Raman Mahadevan of the Institute of Development Alternatives spoke.

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