Brick by brick, rescued bonded labourers build a new life

District Collector Dr Alby John Varghese first proposed the idea in February. An official opening ceremony for the brick kiln took place in April. June marked the start of the kiln’s first fire. By the end of July, they had manufactured 82,000 bricks, valued at around Rs 7 lakh. Approximately half of the total production — 41,000 bricks — was sold to the projects under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme. According to Dr Varghese, the revenue department regularly purchases bricks from this kiln for the PMAY scheme. As such, since there is assured demand for the kiln’s bricks, there is a certainty that the kiln’s produce will find a market.

“Since the market is tied up, returns to the workers are also assured. They are now working on diversifying into hollow bricks as well. It is evolving as a successful project — a self-sustained community enterprise — as workers manage it on their own along with the support and guidance from various government agencies,” he said.

The project was started as a pilot project with just 20 such families. The district administration provided Rs 5 lakh for the project’s initial phases: Rs 4 lakh for infrastructure, raw materials, and wages, and Rs 1 lakh to source the wood for fuel.

Due to its proximity to Chennai and several highly productive, industrial suburban pockets, agrarian Tiruvallur attracts workers from the most rural and socially-deprived areas and communities in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. But this labour force is also highly vulnerable due to the nature of these industries, the lack of regulations, and the lack of informed and streamlined industrial networks.

According to Helen Barnabas of the International Justice Mission (IJM), an organisation that plays a key role in the rescue of bonded labourers in the state, the choice of site for the brick kiln was significant because it is near where many rescued bonded labourers are living.

Along with the state government’s Mahalir Thittam, a socio-economic empowerment programme for women being implemented by Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women Ltd., the IJM is also supporting and mentoring the brick kiln project in its operative aspects. Mahalir Thittam is similar to Kerala’s Kudumbashree, which is the poverty eradication and women empowerment programme implemented by the State Poverty Eradication Mission (SPEM) of the Government of Kerala.

The district government organised the rescued workers into Self Help Groups (SHGs) so that they could all work together to improve their financial situation.

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“As there were 100 families of bonded labourers, three SHGs were formed and they were given different responsibilities in batches in production,” said Barnabas. Children of rescued bonded labourers have been enrolled in schools again as a result of the project, according to her.