Thirty-one people, including three women, employed as bonded labourers in a hallow brick unit near here have been rescued by officials. The workers, hailing from Chattisgarh, were made to work at meagre wages and forced to stay in damaged sheds for the past one-and-a-half years in a factory at Chinniyampalayam, district officials said.
They were rescued by a team of Revenue and Labour Welfare Department officials, which conducted a raid at the brick unit on a directive from District Collector S Prabhakar, on Monday. Officials said a labourer recently managed to escape from the unit and lodged a complaint with the district authorities in Chhattisgarh, which alerted the Erode District Collector. A case had been registered against the factory owner.