Kendrapada: As many as 155 bonded labourers were rescued in Odisha in 2023-24, Shobha Karandlaje, minister of state for labour and employment, informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Responding to a question by Rajya Sabha MP Mamata Mohanta, Karandlaje also stated that the ministry of labour and employment is implementing a central sector scheme for the rehabilitation of such rescued labourers. The scheme is demand-driven, where funds are provided to states/Union Territories concerned, upon their request, for conducting surveys in sensitive districts and studies related to awareness generation programmes. The states/Union Territories are regularly requested to submit proposals in this regard. During the last five years, the ministry did not receive any such proposal.
As per provisions under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, the state govt may confer the powers of a judicial magistrate to an executive magistrate for the trial of offences under the Act. An offence under this Act may be tried summarily by a magistrate, Karandlaje added.