Kondagaon district collector Neelkanth Tekam advised tribal villagers not to fall prey to dubious recruitment agencies that push gullible villagers from Chhattisgarh into forced labour outside the state after alluring them with promises of better wages.
Tekam’s advisory comes after 26 villagers from the state were rescued from Tamil Nadu where they were mistreated by their employees.
The villagers went to the southern state after being trapped by a recruitment agent who promised them better job opportunities.
As per information 16 villagers from Narayanpur district, 7 from Kondagaon and 3 from Kanker had left their respective native villages to work at a paper roll factory at Erode in Tamil Nadu. But these 26 villagers--15 women and 11 men—were mistreated there and were not given proper wages.
The plight of the villagers came to the fore after a villager intimated the district collector about the migration of labours from the state.
After being informed, a joint team of labour, child protection and police department was constituted and sent to Tamil Nadu.
The team comprising Deputy Collector Gautam Patil, labour inspector Amar Singh Khande and Sub Inspector Bodku Ram brought back the distraught villagers on Monday.
Tekam said rural youth should search for work in their district, villages or nearby areas.
District administration is running different schemes and also imparting training for their employment, he said.
Collector said that all the workers would be registered under labour department and based on their interest they can choose a suitable job for which training will be imparted to them.
The collector, meanwhile, directed the officials to take stern action against the agents who are alluring innocent villagers with false promises of better job opportunities and forcing them into virtual bonded labour.