NHRC Asks Odisha, Telangana To Take Quick Steps Against Bonded Labour Practice

Bhubaneswar: Voicing concern over cases of bonded labour, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked Odisha and Telangana governments to take concrete steps to safeguard basic human rights of migrant workers.

The Commission directed the chief secretaries of the two states to ensure that immediate appropriate action as per the extant rules, laws and schemes is taken in the matter without any delay.

Rights activist and lawyer Radhakanta Tripathy had drawn the attention of NHRC to the distressing incidents of mortgaging children for final rites of their fathers, who were sole breadwinners of the respective families, sources said.

The petitioner brought to the notice of the Commission two incidents of extreme suffering of the labourers. In one incident, a man from Odisha who had gone with family to work in Telangana had died. His wife brought the body to Odisha but the owners of the brick kiln forcibly kept her daughter as bonded labourer to pay the money back. In another incident, a woman was forced to pawn two of her sons to feed other children. The complainant has sought intervention of the Commission in the matter.

Describing this as a serious matter, the Commission directed the Chief Secretaries of Odisha and Telangana to ensure that immediate appropriate action as per the extant rules, laws and schemes is taken in the matter without any further delay. An Action Taken Report (ATR) should be submitted to the Commission within four weeks for record, it said.