Chhattisgarh bonded labourers rendered helpless in J&K

Bilaspur , Sept 16 (UNI ) More than two hundred bonded labourers from Chhattisgarh were reported to have been thrown into the state of helplessness today, with no food or money at Bugaon villages in Badgam district of Jammu&Kashmir.

Chhatisgarh based social activist SN Gatia told UNI tonight, that at least 205 bonded labourers were sent into a tizzy when they were thrown out of the brick furnace unit today, where they were kept as bonded labourers for years.

He said, Diwakar and few women labourers phoned and apprised him of the gruesome event that took place at 1700 hrs today .

The owner of the furnace unit Gulam Hasan Mir Bhatta asked them to immediately leave the unit at Bugaon in Badgam district of Kashmir as the government pressure against him mounted, following a notice issued by the Chhattisgarh High Court in this connection.

The HC had issued notices to the governments of J&K and Chhattisgarh on a petition filed by Mr Gatia . In his petition he alleged that at least 205 people were kept as bonded labourers in Bugaon by the owner of the furnace unit.

But Mr Bhatta instead told a team of officials of Chhatisgarh that he had given two lakh Rupees to the labourers as advance, now they should pay back that money . But as the pressure grew he ousted them. UNI