5 chained quarry labourers freed near Mysore

MYSORE, JUNE 23: Five people, who were forced to work at a quarry in Hugarahalli near Mysore with their legs chained, were released by Kar...

MYSORE, JUNE 23: Five people, who were forced to work at a quarry in Hugarahalli near Mysore with their legs chained, were released by Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) activists.

The labourers, who were chained by the quarry owner who put them in fetters because they owed him money, were made to crush stones with chains on their legs. The labourers were paid minimum wages and had taken a loan from the quarry owner Putta Swamy, a resident of Mysore, to support their families at their villages.

The freed labourers are Venkatesh (58), a resident of Kadathanalu village, Gopal (30) and Nagraj (40) of Krishnaraja Sagar, and Venkatchala and Krishna, residents of Kathanahalli in Pandavapura village in Mandya district.

The KRRS activists, who heard about Putta Swamy’s actions during the recently-concluded taluk and zilla panchayat elections, stormed the quarry on Thursday, led by former MLA K S Puttanniah and Nanjunde Gowda.

The rescued labourers said that though some candidates had seen their plight while campaigning for the zilla parishad polls, no action had been taken to free the men.

The KRRS activists have staged a dharna in front of the Srirangapatna police station, demanding the immediate arrest of the quarry owner and a judicial probe into the incident. They have also demanded a compensation of Rs 5 lakh and rehabilitation of the labourers at the quarry.

The activists charged that the officials, including the police, had colluded with the quarry owner and failed to take action against him.

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Sriranagapatna tehsildar Parasarthy has clamped prohibitory orders in and around the Hungarahalli village. The freed labourers are now staying at the Ganagdhara Swamy temple at Srirangapatna.