Chennai, Jun 20 (IANS): Tamil Nadu's special police team will conduct searches at all the brick kilns in Krishnagiri district after 10 bonded labourers from the Irula community including children were freed on Sunday following the intervention of an NGO.

The 10 bonded labourers were rescued after the NGO, Rights Education and Development Centre (READ) based out of Erode, petitioned the district collector of Krishnagiri.

The Irula tribe members hailing from Perunkaadu village near Marandahalli in Dharmapuri district of the state were kept as bonded labourers in the brick kiln.

A two-year-old child from the brick kiln was electrocuted in the first week of May which prompted the NGO to petition the district collector of Krishnagiri, V. Jaya Chandra Bhanu Reddy, and the district legal service authority.

Recently, seven people from the Irula community were rescued by voluntary workers and the district administration from another brick kiln in Krishnagiri district.

Sources in the Tamil Nadu police told IANS that a special police team would conduct searches in all the brick kilns of Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and in districts of Erode and Salem to find out whether more people are working in these kilns in inhuman conditions and as bonded labourers. They are paid a pittance and made to work under the scorching sun with poor living conditions.