Rescued trio to highlight pain of bonded labour to officials in state

Three men who were rescued from bonded labour, and are leading a normal life as daily wage labourers, are now part of a team that is going around the State for a month to create awareness on the plight of bonded labourers among government officials.

The programme and a one-day session in each district are organised by the State Revenue Department, for which International Justice Mission (IJM), an NGO is the resource partner.

The team was in Coimbatore and Pollachi on Tuesday and Wednesday. The trio B Chinnarasu (28) of Arakkonam, P Shanmugam (35) of Tiruttani and G Murugan (30) of Arani built a small shed, in three hours, in the Collectorate to show the authorities how they had lived in such dwellings as bonded labourers, bereft of basic amenities.

At the meeting in the district collectorate, they told the officials that a common man would think twice before stepping into the shed as it would suffocate them.

They also gave them a first hand account of the hardships they had undergone and requested them to help the scores of bonded labourers who were suffering in various hazardous industrial units across the State. .

Elaborating on his plight, Chinnarasu said that his father had borrowed Rs 5,000 as advance from his employer when he was just seven.

He had to work in the brick kiln at Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh for 12 years on a meagre pay and facing lots of hardships before he fled with a few others.

Life has changed since then. He is now a daily wage labourer earning not less than Rs 500 a day. “I came to know about IJM and the work they do for bonded labourners and volunteered to be part of the team to explain our plight to officials so that more of us will be rescued,” he added.

Mathew Joji, Director of Research and Partnership at IJM Chennai, said that apart from the workshops the subject matter experts conducted for officials as part of the initiative of the State Government, the real life stories of the three former bonded labourers left an impact on officials and also helped in ruling out their misconceptions on bonded labour.

“ In the programmes we have conducted in eight districts from July 10 these three men have taken the message to close to 2,500 government officials,” Joji added.