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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Contractors cut off hands of labourers, leave SC livid -Dhananjay Mahapatra

Contractors cut off hands of labourers, leave SC livid -Dhananjay Mahapatra

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published Published on Jul 16, 2014   modified Modified on Jul 16, 2014
-The Times of India


NEW DELHI: "Is there andhergardi (lawlessness) in this country," an angry Supreme Court asked after being told by the Naveen Patnaik government that unlicensed labour contractors chopped off the palms of two migrant labourers' after the tribal men they had herded for contract labour in brick kilns managed to flee.

Counsel Jayshree Satpute and R S Jena narrated the unending exploitation of tribal men in six districts of Odisha who are paid a lumpsum amount every year by labour contractors and taken to work in brick kilns outside the state and kept in bondage under pitiable living conditions without wages.

These narrations supplemented Odisha standing counsel Kirti Mishra confirming to the court the gruesome incident of December 15 last year, when labour contractors got angry over the tribal workers fleeing from their captivity and chopped off the palms of two who could not escape.

A bench of Justices T S Thakur, C Nagappan and Adarsh Kumar Goel was informed by the counsel that six districts - Koraput, Bolangir, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Bargarh and Malkangiri - faced the menace of labour contractors and alleged that these contractors were in league with political leaders and police.

An exasperated court said, "What kind of country are we living in? It does not happen even in the most primitive societies." It asked the Naveen Patnaik government to detail the steps taken by it to prevent recurrence of such incidents and protect tribal people from being exploited by labour contractors.

Mishra said the two grievously injured labourers were medically treated, provided with artificial limbs and paid a compensation of Rs 2 lakh. She said all the accused have been arrested and were in judicial custody.

But the bench wanted to know whether the situation in these six districts was so grim. It asked the state government to inform the court about steps taken to ameliorate the condition of the poor and prevent exploiters from herding people as cattle to make them work outside the state.

The court also sought a report from Andhra Pradesh government on Satpute's application, which cited a January 27, 2013 report in TOI narrating the pitiable condition of 2 lakh men from Odisha working in the brick kilns of AP.

The court asked Odisha to conduct a study within three months in the six districts by an officer not below the rank of revenue divisional commissioner and submit a report to the court about the condition of people living there. It also asked the Odisha Legal Services Authority to visit the six districts and probe the alleged nexus between authorities and labour contractors who exploit people.

It asked the state to detail steps taken under the law to protect migrant labourers against exploitation and file an affidavit stating the number of cases registered against licensed and unlicensed labour contractors indulging in illegal activities.


The Times of India, 16 July, 2014, http://m.timesofindia.com/india/Contractors-cut-off-hands-of-labourers-leave-SC-livid/articleshow/38455747.cms


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