Mysuru: Employing bonded labour may be a crime, but the system appears to be still in vogue in Mysuru district. As many as 234 workers were found to be employed under these inhuman conditions between 2012 and 2017 in the district and the administration has now appealed to the government to rehabilitate them.
While 669 cases of bonded labour, including 442 in HD Kote, 187 in Hunsur, 35 in Periyapatna and five in KR nagar were reported between the years in question, only 234 were found to be genuine on investigation, according to Mysuru Deputy Commissioner, D Randeep. Twenty six other cases are pending investigation.
As many as 253 cases of bonded labour were identified in Mysuru district even before 2010 and they have already been granted Rs 50 lakh for their rehabilitation, according to him.
Assistant Commissioner, Dr Soujanya A., who was part of the survey team, when contacted, said that the employers had given the 234 daily wage labourers loans and they were working to pay them back. “But they were given very meagre salaries of as little as Rs 150 a day in some cases. So their loans almost never got cleared or took a really long time to clear”.
