Bargarh: The plight of bonded labourers in drought-hit Bargarh district seems not to end any time sooner.
Gopal Kumbharia (10) of Nuadihi village under Padmapur police limits, who had been to Hyderabad to work at a brick kiln, has been held captive by his employer.
The matter came to fore after the boy’s widowed mother Rebati Kumbharia was seen crying for help before the district child welfare committee (CWC). She was seen pleading with CWC chairman Prafulla Kumar Behera for her son’s rescue.
According to sources, two agents – Binod Majhi and Nalita Patunian – of Bindeimunda under Patnagarh police limits in Bolangir district arrived at Nuadihi village and offered good wage earning opportunities to locals at a brick kiln.
Rebati with her son and some other villagers went to work at the kiln in Hyderabad. Even after working for months, their owner did not pay them. Worse, their employer assaulted them and seized their mobile phones and ID cards.
He then expelled all female workers and sent them back home but retained the male workers. Rebati returned along with other women but was worried when Gopal narrated his ordeal over phone.
Even as Rebati lost her husband Mithulal a couple of years back, the condition of her only son has added to her woes.
Gopal was a Class V student and had dropped out of school to extend a helping hand to his mother. PNN
