Meet the brave 19-year-old from Odisha who rescued over 6,000 bonded labourers in Tamil Nadu

The bonded labour practice has been prevalent in India for ages. Under the practice, large number of labourers are promised a sum of money for labour work for a duration of time anywhere between six months to uncountable years.

Many NGOs have been working to fight this evil and rescue labourers. A young girl who was trafficked by an agent has helped rescue more than 6,000 labourers trapped in different brick kilns in Tamil Nadu.

Manasi Bariha from Odisha’s Balangir district lived with her father and 10-year old sister. They had taken an advance of Rs 28,000 to clear the medical expense dues of their late mother. But since they couldn’t arrange repayment, the agent took them along with 355 other labourers to the GDM brick kiln in Pudhukuppam, Tiruvallur.

“We had to start work early in the morning around 4.30 am and continue till noon. Then, we were given a break of two hours and again made to resume work which continued till late in the evening,” Manasi told The Better India.

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The labourers were paid between Rs 250 and Rs 300 every week, but due to their poor financial conditions they worked for six months in order to earn some money. Once the coronavirus pandemic broke out and the lockdown was imposed, the labourers wanted to return home as soon as possible.

“All of us toiled day and night to complete our work so that we could leave for our homes. Our relatives were pressuring us to return and we were scared of the pandemic as well,” she says.

Despite completing the work, the owner refused to let them go. When the labourers staged a protest in May, the owner sent some of his men to beat them with lathis, leaving them profusely bleeding, including Manasi’s sister.

That’s when Manasi decided to do something about the entire situation.

“I called up almost all the numbers on my mobile and shared the photos, audios, and videos of the injured men to all my WhatsApp contacts appealing for urgent help. I knew the owner would not take us to hospital and some of us might even die due to profuse bleeding,” she told Sambad.

She even called up her friends with media connections to highlight the cause. Within no time, the police went to rescue the labourers and an FIR was filed against the kiln. However, the owner is still absconding.

On further probing, the police found that 30 other brick kilns were practising illegal bonded labour. All of the labourers were sent back to their respective states under police protection.

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