One of the groups of sugarcane harvesting labourers that was brought from Madhya Pradesh to work at sugarcane factories in Belagavi and Bagalkot districts has been sent back, after a charge that it has been engaged as bonded labour emerged. Another group, which includes some child labour, has been released. But officers are yet to send it back.
A total of 49 people, including nine children, who were working in two groups, have been released from work. All the workers, including the nine children, have been released. As many as 22 of them chose to go back to Madhya Pradesh. The others are in Belagavi, while the children are in the District Child Welfare Home.
While activists are saying that the groups were engaged as bonded labour, officers refuse to believe them.
Two teams that conducted local inquiries in two villages of Nippani and Ramdurg taluks, where the groups were temporarily housed, noted that the workers wanted to go back as they said they had been overworked, underpaid and home sick. Two of them said that they were brought by fraud by a ruthless labour contractor who promised to pay them ₹20,000 each, but did not.
The group that was working in Nippani has gone back. The other one that was working in Ramdurg has stayed back, officers say. The gang that was working in Ramdurg was working for Nirani Sugars, that is managed by MRN Group of Industries, whose chairman is Minister for Large and Medium Industries Murugesh Nirani.
Vijay Nirani, Minister’s son, who serves as the Chairman and Managing director of Nirani Sugars, said that they have released the workers and that the labour contractor has been blacklisted.
“Our company runs six sugar factories that need 65,000 workers for harvest every year. Though we have a very strict policy against child labour, children accompany their parents to work and it becomes difficult to weed out such cases, at times. However, whenever we come to know of such incidents, we take strict action,’’ he told The Hindu. He strongly denied that the factory will employ or encourage bonded labour.
However, the district administration is yet to take the next step. The District Child Welfare Committee has asked the police to file a complaint so that the children and their parents can be released. The police are yet to file a case, after nearly a week of the request.
Deputy Commissioner M.G. Hiremath admitted that a tahsildar’s report has ruled out bonded labour. He, however, said that steps will be taken to send the released labourers and their children back home.
