As many as 53 tribal labourers from Rajasthan’s Pratapgarh district were rescued from sugarcane fields in Maharashtra’s Solapur district, where they were allegedly working under bonded labour-like conditions.
Acting on a tip-off, a special team of the Pratapgarh police raided several places in Solapur to rescue the migrants, who were held captive and forced to work on sugarcane farms in prolonged and irregular shifts, Pratapgarh Superintendent of Police B. Aaditya said.
Speaking to media persons late on Friday night, the SP said the labourers were taken by middlemen on the assurance of higher wages. However, contrary to those assurances, they were taken to Maharashtra and subjected to atrocious working conditions, without wages and with inadequate and irregular food, the SP said.
After being informed of their plight, the police planned a special operation — “Operation Vishwas” — under which a team was sent to Solapur to free the labourers. All 53 labourers — 40 men and 13 women, along with two accompanying toddlers — have been brought back to Pratapgarh, the officer said, adding that “they are being escorted to their respective villages”.
It is alleged that the middleman took a substantial amount of money from the employers but did not pay wages to the labourers. A case of human trafficking and criminal conspiracy has been lodged against the perpetrators, SP Aditya added.