Hans News Service Puttaparthi

SriSathya Sai district administration has dismantled an interstate racket that trafficked impoverished tribal (ST) workers from Maharashtra and forced them into bonded labour in charcoal kilns. Acting on district Collector A Shyam Prasad’s orders after a complaint by Srikanth Janju Koli, resident of Maharashtra, task force teams raided sites across two RDO divisions and rescued 40 victims, including infants, from Adivasiwadi village in Nizampur Taluka, Raigad district.

Teams led by Puttaparthi RDO P Suvarna rescued four people, including a four-month-old, from Talamarla village. Penukonda RDO T Ananda Kumar’s teams freed 36 others, aged up to 63, from sites in Gorantla Mandal.

Contractors Ramesh Taru Rathod and Prakash Devichand Rathod had lured the families with debt, confined them in unsanitary tents without water or toilets, and forced them to work day and night in smoke-filled kilns without wages.

Victims said the officials saved their lives. RDOs issued release certificates under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, waiving illegal debts. The rescued received food, medical care, financial aid and safe transport home.

A non-bailable case has been registered at Gorantla police station under relevant BNS, SC/ST and bonded labour laws.

The Collector warned that no one exploiting tribals would be spared.