Bonded labourers from MP rescued in Bengaluru

The city administration, along with the Bengaluru city police and an NGO from Madhya Pradesh, rescued nine bonded labourers from a borewell digging unit in the city on February 5.

The rescued labourers were mostly tribals from Madhya Pradesh and other states who worked with no pay for up to 21 months. They had to sleep on top of the borewell trucks at night, police said.

Members of NGO Jan Sahas, along with two police officers from Madhya Pradesh, travelled to Bengaluru and raided the borewell unit which was at work in Hebbal. They rescued three bonded labourers from Madhya Pradesh and one from West Bengal after which the police instructed the borewell owner to bring six more labourers who were working at different locations in and around Amruthahalli.

All of them were landless farmers working for daily wages, earning Rs 100-Rs 150 a day before coming to Bengaluru for a better livelihood.