Bhubaneswar: At least 21 bonded labourers from Odisha, including 11 minors, were rescued from Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya station in Varanasi on Wednesday.
According to reports, all these bonded labourers are from the Rayagada district in Odisha and they were taken to Uttar Pradesh for employment in a local factory. They were promised a salary of Rs 12,000 per month but were paid much less.
Often these hapless labourers were denied their salaries and were reportedly subjected to physical torture. The factory owner also threatened them with dire consequences if they ever wanted to quit their job and return home to Odisha.
After many efforts, the labourers succeeded in escaping from the factory and reached Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya station. They were spotted by an RPF team patrolling the station. The labourers were in a state of panic and narrated their ordeal to the RPF officials.
The RPF personnel rescued these bonded labourers, many of them minors, and handed them to members of the Bachpan Bachao Andolan organisation.
“All of the rescued labourers were in a state of panic. We have learnt that they were engaged at a factory and were not getting the assured wages,” said RPF SP, Harinarayan Ram.
According to sources, efforts are underway to send the rescued labourers to their respective villages in Odisha.
The local police have conducted on the factory that had engaged these labourers without wages.
