Bonded labourers of Bhiwandi: Tribal families reveal years of harassment, abuse at the hands of 2 contractors

In a tribal village in Bhiwandi Thane generations of more than a dozen families working at a stone quarry and brick kiln have been trapped into bonded labour During a ground visit to Pilanje Budruk Chinchpada village the families recounted to midday how their employers and the local police collude to harass them and subject them to inhuman conditions The villagers have accused private contractors Chandrakant and Rajaram Patil who are siblings of making them work without proper pay food or water and even publicly flogging them tricking them into work to repay loans allegedly taken by their forefathers prohibiting them from looking for other jobs The list goes onThey live in kucha houses some of them making do with plastic sheets for roofsThe residents of Pilanje Budruk belong to the Katkari tribal community The Patil brothers run a brick kiln factory and supply stones to crusher machines after blasting mountains with gelatine sticks said the villagersCurrently 18 tribal families comprising 43 members have been identified by the NGO Shramjeevi Sangathana to be released from bonded labour The NGO has taken up the matter with the Bhiwandi TahsildarThe villagers told midday how they have to live in substandard conditions with inadequate pay sleep on threadbare mats or on the ground in houses covered only with plastic sheets and cut off from medical facilities if injuredAlso read NCP leader Ramdas Korde arrested for enslaving tribal in PalgharSanjay Vaghe 40At the age of 15 Sanjay Vaghe was paid Rs 500 by the Patil brothers to graze their cattle in the fields Vaghe continued the work for seven years but was never paid again for the work and was only given leftover food once in a while ldquoWhen I asked for money the Patil brothers would beat and abuse me When I stopped going to work they dragged me to their house and forced me to workrdquo he saidThe tribal villagers of Pilanje Budruk Chinchpada PicsRajesh GuptaWhen Vaghe grew older he was made to work in the stone quarry ldquoThey made me break large stones which are sent to a nearby crushing machine One day a stone hit my left eye and it started bleeding When I asked Rajaram seth for money to get treatment he abused and thrashed me Now I am blind in my left eyerdquoRaghunath Pawar 50Raghunath Pawar was made to look after the Patil brothersrsquo cattle for Rs 100Rs 200 per week paid in advance After he got married Pawar told the brothers that he wanted to look for a job outside the village ldquoI was told that my father had taken a loan of Rs 5000 which is yet to be cleared I was told to continue working to clear the loan My father never told me of a loanrdquo said Pawar who spent decades working in the fields and breaking stones for the PatilsJagdish Vaghe 47Jagdish Vaghe worked in the Patilsrsquo brick kiln factory and when he grew older was made to transport soil on a bullock cart He accused the Patil brothers of not giving him food and assaulting him ldquoOnce when I did not go to work Chandrakant assaulted me with bamboo sticks so badly that both my hands were fractured Somehow my sister arranged for my hands to be treated locallyrdquo Jagdish said ldquoI was terrified after the incident and never dared to say no to him again I continued doing what they orderedrdquo Jagdish saidShukriya Vaghe 49Shukriya Vaghe worked at the brick kiln between December and May ldquoTherersquos no proper rest We hardly slept two to three hours a day During rains I worked in the field with minimal food and rest Despite the harassment I did not dare to seek work elsewhererdquo Shukriya said Shukriya claimed that the Patil brothersrsquo assault of his pregnant wife led to her death ldquoMy wife was pregnant and my daughter was hardly 13 years old The Patil brothers asked to send my daughter to work for them When my wife refused to send her they beat her up The assault killed herrdquo Shukriya said Shukriya used to live in a hut next to Chandrakantrsquos sprawling bungalow Now he lives in a smaller hut in the tribal village ldquoChandrakant often assaulted me at night with a belt and stick So I left my house and came to live with other tribalsrdquo he said Now Shukriya cuts and sells grass to people who have cattle ldquoI live with my children We eat less to survive on the government rationrdquo he saidAnita Vaghe 55Anita Vaghe with pictures of her sons Dashrath left and PanditAnita Vaghe claimed that Chandrakant killed her sons Pandit and Dashrath ldquoThey painted the murders as accidental deaths by drowning Panditrsquos jaw was broken How is that possible if he drowned There were several other injury marks on his body but the police did not listen to my complaint and closed the filerdquo Anita said Pandit died on May 5 2015 while Dashrath died at JJ Hospital on March 3 2018Kanha Jadhav 45Kanha Jadhav used to work in the brick kiln and was paid R500 in advance per week ldquoI would start making bricks at 1 am and end at 1 pm After that there was other work at the kiln I would sleep only for a couple of hours by 10 pm or 11 pm When I said no to work the Patil brothers planned to teach me a lessonrdquo Jadhav said ldquoOn June 21 night around 10 pm a few men came to the village and Patil brothers were with them The men did not say a word and started to assault us with an iron rod and a bamboo stick Apart from me Santosh Gavit was also assaulted that nightrdquo he added Jadhav told midday that they visited Ganeshpuri police station to register an FIR over the assault ldquoBut the police did not name Patil brothers in the assault caserdquo he said ldquoI had been telling the police that all the unknown people who assaulted us were brought by Patils who were present at a distance when we were beaten Still the police did not name them in the FIRrdquo Jadhav said Jadhav claimed that he has seen the men who beat them at the Patilsrsquo bungalow ldquoGaneshpuri police know everything but they are not doing anythingrdquo Jadhav saidBheema Jhipper Pawar 43Bheema Pawarrsquos husband is paralysed and can walk only with support She wants to work outside the village to earn money for his treatment as the Patils never provide it ldquoBut I am not allowed to go out of the village I am scaredrdquo Pawar saidBalaram Jadhav 44The Patil brothers also allegedly take advantage of the fact that the tribals canrsquot read and write Balaram Jadhav has a diary with the details of his supposed wages but does not know what is writtenBalaram Jadhav shows his supposed wagesldquoI work in the brick kiln factory as I was given an advance of Rs 500 During monsoon the Patils give Rs 2000 or Rs 1000 to prevent me from going to work elsewhererdquo Balaram said ldquoI am not allowed to go anywhere else If I were to go the Patil brothers would beat merdquo he saidRelease for the labourersldquoThe bonded labourers were brought to the tahsildarrsquos office in Bhiwandi on Tuesday Their statements were recorded Initially the tahsildar were not ready to give them a release certificate but later he agreed after he met our leader Vivek Pandit The tahsildar was apprised of all the rules and regulations related to the Bonded Labour System Abolition Actrdquo said Balaram Bhoir a member of Shramjeevi SangathanaBrothers Rajaram and Chandrakant Patil have been accused by the tribals of subjecting them to bonded labourVivek who is the chairman of a state governmentappointed committee to look into the status of schemes for tribals said ldquoThis indicates that feudalism exists even if in small numbers just outside Mumbai The administration knows nothing about the enforcement of the Bonded Labour System Abolition Act I hope that now the executive magistrate that is the tahsildar issues a release certificate within 24 hours and provides immediate relief of Rs 20000 to each bonded labour I also expect that the police will take cognisance of the offencerdquo Vivek claimed to have rescued 24 bonded labourers from Bhiwandi Dindori Igatpuri Panvel and Ulhasnagar during 2019 and 2020Tahsildar speaksTahsildar of Bhiwandi taluka Adhik Patil told midday that he was studying the legality of the matter ldquoI am going through the rule book before issuing release certificates to themrdquo Patil saidWhat the Patil brothers sayRajaram alias Rajendra said ldquoThe matter is pending before the tahsildar so I will not make any comment But all the allegations made by the tribals are falserdquoChandrakant said ldquoI have been bringing in my workers from Jawhar to run our business The tribals who have been making false allegations against me and my brother Rajaram stopped working for us 10 years ago Some people are using the tribals to defame me and derail my plan to contest the upcoming election We have never subjected the tribals to bonded labourrdquo Patil said