5 children among 2 families rescued from bonded labour

Those rescued have been identified as Vasu (40) his wife Amul (38) and their children Parvathi (14) and Arjunan (8); Vijay (38), his wife Malar (36) their children Radhika (8), Karthik (7) and Masiammal (3). All of them hail from Manamathi village near Chengalpattu.

The International Justice Mission, an NGO, received information that bonded labourers were held captive at the Elumalaiyan rice mill at Kavanur village near Uthirameur in Kancheepuram for three years. After confirming that nine people from two families were detained at the mill, it alerted the Kancheepuram district collector.

Early on Tuesday morning, Revenue officials including the tahsildar and Uthiramerur police reached the rice mill. Seeing the official team heading to the mill, its owner and other workers escaped. Officials rescued the nine, who were then taken to Uthiramerur taluk office.

Police said that the families had borrowed Rs 8,000 from the mill owner a few years ago but failed to return it on time. That was when they were brought to the mill to work as bonded labourers. 

Police said that both families were forced to work 18 hours every day, from 9 pm to 3 pm, for which each family was paid a meagre Rs 200-300 a week. They were not allowed to go out of the mill; even the children were not allowed to go to school.

All of them were taken to Kancheepuram collectorate. The officials are making arrangement for sending them to their native and providing them the benefits under welfare schemes announced by the state.