32 rescued from jewellery making unit

[1]

Revenue officials rescued 32 goldsmiths, all natives of West Bengal, from a jewellery manufacturing unit in Muthialpet on Friday evening.

They were rescued after a complaint came from the goldsmiths association that the workers were being kept in a locked room and forced to work without being paid salary.

All the rescued men were brought to the tahsildar office of Fort–Tondiarpet taluk, located at Periamet, late on Friday.

The rescued workers indicated that they were not bonded labourers but they were not paid their dues for the past several months.

The complaint said that they were kept in a hall under lock and key and made to work inside for the past six months. Only one man was allowed to go out occasionally to buy groceries.

“All the workers were forced to eat and bathe inside the locked hall,” a revenue official said, adding that they were now talking to the rescued workers to get all the details of their plight.