Paliakalan. 14 Indian labourers who were held hostage at a brick kiln in Kailali district of Nepal have been freed by Nepal authorities after the intervention of National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Delhi.
A few days ago, Bhadra Bisht, owner of BMI brand brick kiln in Nepal, resident of village Malbhuda, police station Chuha Motipur, district Kailali, Nepal and his employees went to the house of Munna son of Pappu, resident of Sardar Nagar, police station Jahanabad, district Pilibhit and told them that if you people do brick making work, then come and work at our kiln. We will pay wages of Rs. 800 per thousand bricks.
After this, a total of 21 people including his family and some people from Uttarakhand reached Nepal and started working. It is alleged that after working for 28 days, when they asked for their wages, the contractor and the kiln owner said that they would send the wages home. It is alleged that even after that their wages were not sent to their homes nor were they given to them.
The owner of the kiln was accused of taking several families hostage and torturing them by beating them. The workers had sent a letter to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, New Delhi, demanding their release. Meanwhile, the family members of several hostages approached BJP leader Ravi Gupta of Palia and told him their story.
Ravi met the DM and SP of Kailali and informed them about the entire matter. Ravi Gupta said that with the help of Nepal officials, 14 labourers have returned safely to India. All of them reached Palia on Thursday night and their boarding and lodging arrangements were also made by them. On Friday, all of them were sent to their destination after paying the fare etc.
Those freed from bondage include Surajjan, Aman, Rohit, Bhola, Vikas, Nawab, Sachin, Amit, Ajay, Laalta and Nasim and their family members.