Eight years on, Pune Rout from Odisha’s Nuapada district is unable to forget her ordeal in a brick kiln in Tamil Nadu’s Thiruvallur district, where she was forced to work for 12 hours a day despite being pregnant. Her husband, Purosottam Rout, also worked by her side.
The couple’s ordeal ended when the Thiruvallur district administration rescued them and 335 others from the kiln, under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 (BLS Act) on February 12, 2015. They should have received ₹20,000 each from the Odisha and Union governments under the anti-slavery Act. But the couple has been waiting for the compensation for almost eight years now.
On June 23, 2023, the Odisha Human Rights Commission that operates under the State government, directed the Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water department to furnish the status of bonded labourers in Odisha by August 22. It also asked noted bonded labour activist Baghambar Patnaik to educate government officials about the provisions of the law.
