31 bonded labourers rescued from cane farm

TIRUNELVELI: Thirty-one people belonging to the irrular community from Vellore district who were being held as bonded labourers at a sugarcane farm in Sivagiri near Sankarankoil in Tirunelveli district were rescued by the revenue department personnel on Tuesday.
An NGO informed the Tenkasi RDO in Vellore that the individuals were being held as bonded labourers, following which Sivagiri tahsildar, Christopher Jeyaraj and a team of officials raided the sugarcane farm.They rescued 31 people, identified as Sekar, Lakshmi, Chinnappan, Santhi, Ravi, Vijaya, Sathyaraj, Chitra, Velu, Jothi, Vijayalakshmi, Chandru and Kasturi, among others. The group narrated harrowing experiences.
The workers were temporarily accommodated in a marriage hall after they were rescued. They reportedly told the authorities that they were made to work from 5am to 7pm on a day and made to toil hard. There were even two pregnant women among them. According to them, one woman had delivered a child while she was working. It was discovered that these workers belonged to Kamalampoondi, Theetallam, Nadamarai, Manthakkal, Pappanthangal, Uthiramerur and Kadambur in Maduranthakam taluk in Kancheepuram district.
The workers told the team that they were given food and paid Rs 100 each at the end of each week. Some of them were treated like slaves by their employer Palanivel and made to do menial jobs.
The rescue team said that the released labourers would be compensated before being sent back to their homes.