Having taken suo motu cognizance of a media report about the plight of pregnant women labourers engaged in sugarcane cutting in several sugar factories in Shrigonda taluka of Ahmednagar district in western Maharashtra, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the Maharashtra Government, seeking for a detailed report on the issue within four weeks.
“Ten per cent of the women workers cutting sugarcane are pregnant but are unaware of their lawful rights and the benefits ensured under various Government schemes. They are not granted any maternity leaves and child care facilities and no healthy diet is provided to them by the departments concerned,” the NHRC said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The Commission has observed that the contents of the news report, if true, raise serious issues of human rights violations,” the NHRC said.