'Bonded labourers' on Punjab farms: MHA prods Punjab govt for action

NEW DELHI: The Union home ministry has, based on inputs from BSF about the plight of “bonded labourers” from UP and Bihar working in the fields of border villages in Punjab, asked the Punjab government to look into the matter and take appropriate measures to address the problem.
The home ministry, in a letter sent to the Punjab chief secretary and DGP on March 17, 2021, said it had been informed by BSF that most of the 58 Indian nationals it had apprehended from the border areas of Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Ferozepur and Abohar in 2019-2020, were found to be either mentally challenged or in a feeble state of mind and had been working as bonded labourers with farmers in border villages of Punjab.The apprehended persons belonged to poor family background and hailed from remote areas of UP and Bihar.
“It has been further informed that human trafficking syndicates hire such labourers from their native place to work in Punjab on the promise of good salary, but after reaching Punjab, they are exploited, paid poorly and meted out inhuman treatment. For making them work for long hours in fields, these labourers are often given drugs, which adversely affect their physical and mental condition,” the MHA said adding that BSF had been handing over the rescued persons to the state police for further necessary action.
The ministry requested the Punjab chief secretary and DGP to take appropriate measures to address the “serious” issue, citing the multi-dimensional and overwhelming enormity of the problem which involves human trafficking, bonded labour and human rights violations.
“Action taken in the matter may please be informed to this ministry on priority,” said the letter signed by a deputy secretary-level officer of the MHA. A copy of the letter was also forwarded to the Union labour secretary Apurva Chandra.