Daijiworld News Network - Udupi (GA) - pic - RK Durga Digitals

Udupi, Nov 29: A special team of Tamil Nadu police raided a quarry at Pamboor near Shirva here and took to custody 42 persons of 8 Tamil families on Tuesday November 28 night.

The above families have been working in a particular quarry which is situated near the famous Pajakakshetra at Pamboor under the Belle panchayat.  One Venkatesh from Tamil Nadu who was working for the same quarry had lodged complaint with the police that quarry labourers were subject to atrocities by the owner and that bonded labour was still prevalent in the quarry.

Accordingly, the Tamil Nadu police accompanied by magistrate and tahsildar K Muralidhar raided the quarry and visited the people.  Police had one-to-one talk with the labourers and enquired with them about bonded labour.  The enquiry revealed that 8 families comprising of 42 members did not want to live here and that they wanted to go back to their native.  So they have been kept in police custody till further arrangements are made.

Meanwhile while speaking to the reporters, tahsildar Muralidhar said that bonded labour is not active anywhere in the district.  The said labourers do not wish to work owing to their personal reasons.  "However, just because Tamil Nadu police have come down, we cannot send them.  Assistant commissioner will have an enquiry and only thereafter a further step will be taken in this regard," he said.

On the other hand, the quarry owner has said that complainant Venkatesh and his associate Armugam had taken Rs 15,000 from him under the pretext that they would supply him with labourers.  But they did not keep up their promise.  "Now that I have pressured them either to supply labour or return the money, they are playing this dirty game of bonded labour," he opined.