27 bonded labourers freed from big builders' sites

Twenty-seven bonded labourers were rescued from two construction sites in the city. In a joint operation by sleuths from CID and revenue officers from Chhattisgarh, raids were conducted at JMC project, Kempapura and Divyashree Infrastructures, Yemalur on Old Airport Road.

The sleuths rescued 11 men and two women from Kempapura and six males, eight females, including four minors from Yemalur. The labourers were handed over to the Amruthalli and HAL police respectively for further action, said the CID police.

Mediators promised Rs 10,000 wages a month besides free food and accommodation in construction projects in the city. They brought 13 labourers about seven months ago for the Kempapura project and 14 for the Yemalur project about 10 months ago. The labourers were given Rs 100 a week besides ration for food. They were never paid the promised wages, police added.

The builders and contractors tortured the labourers physically when they refused to work, police added.

The mediators Saraswathi, Kalavathi, Pappu Yadav, Santosh, Raj Kishore Yadav, Pavan Kumar Yadav and builders have been booked under IPC Sections 342 (wrongful confinement) and 370 (buying or disposing of any person as a slave), besides provisions of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act-1976.