Shah uses bonded labour incident to target JD(S)-Congress govt

New Delhi/Hassan: BJP national president Amit Shah criticised the JD(S)-Congress government for being busy with cabinet expansion even as 52 bonded labourers were rescued from Hassan district earlier this week.

Amit Shah on Saturday, December 22 tweeted, “Shocking that members from Dalit and tribal communities were enslaved and made to suffer in the most inhuman conditions, but the Congress-JDS government is busy with cabinet expansion! People are watching. I urge our karyakartas to help the people in distress.” 

As many as 52 bonded labourers, including 17 women and four children, from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana had been rescued in Hassan district on December 16 and a gang of five people had been arrested and booked under the Bonded Labour Act, Prevention of Atrocities on SC/ST Act and various IPC sections.

That bonded labour was practised in the district came to light recently when one of the workers, who toiled for 20 days, escaped from the clutches of the gang by scaling the fence. The workers were allegedly held captive in sheds, taken to the fields for work and beaten up when wages were demanded.

The district administration has sent a proposal to the Karnataka government to grant a compensation of Rs 71 lakh to the victims and each one of them has been given Rs 5,000 to return home, the police official said.