Centre writes to Punjab over survey suggesting labourers being given drugs to work longer: Report

Farmer leaders believe this is a way to malign the farmers' five-month-long agitation

The Centre has written to the Punjab government regarding a survey by the BSF that stated that migrant bonded labourers were being hired in the state's farms and were given drugs to make them work longer hours, a move which has miffed leaders of the five-month-long farmers' agitation in Delhi.

In a letter dated March 17, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) asked the state government to take strict measures on the findings of the probe. The BSF reportedly took 58 such workers into custody from Punjab districts in 2019-20, according to a report by The Indian Express.

Read | Stones pelted at Rakesh Tikait’s convoy: Police

This did not go down well with many farm leaders, including Jagmohan Singh, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) General Secretary and All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) member, who said it was an exercise to "malign the image of farmers".

"After calling us Khalistani and terrorists, the Union Government is playing yet another communal card. This survey, as per the MHA, was done by BSF in 2019-20 and it is surprising that they sat on this report till now and wrote to the Punjab Government only when the farmers’ agitation is at its peak,” Singh is quoted as saying by the report.

A Punjab Police officer told the publication that the letter was far-fetched. The report quoted the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), a former ally of NDA, as saying that the letter was based upon a "ridiculous assumption aimed purely at defaming farmers of the state".

Read | Chilla route between Noida-Delhi briefly disrupted due to protest by farmers

"During the course of questioning, it emerged that most of them were either mentally challenged or were in a feeble state of mind and have been working as bonded labourers with farmers in border villages of Punjab. The persons apprehended belong to poor family background and hail from remote areas of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,” the letter said, referring to the 58 apprehended people.

The letter also said that human trafficking syndicates hire these labourers from their native place to bring to Punjab on "the promise of good salary".