Maharashtra: Over 20 bonded labourers freed from charcoal-making unit in Pune district

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Twenty-six bonded labourers along with their family members, totalling 48 people, have been rescued from a charcoal-making unit in Maharashtra's Pune district, an official said on Friday, PTI reported.

Acting on the complaint of all the victims from Raigad district, police booked one accused Sayaji Bandalkar who allegedly subjected them to forced labour, the official said.

As per PTI, Bandalkar allegedly forced the men to bring wood from the jungle for the charcoal unit at Girvi village in Pune's Indapur tehsil, while women and children were held captive at the site and often made to work in farms

After learning about the bonded labourers' situation, the non-profit Shramajeevi Sanghatana worked with the authorities and ensured the rescue of the 26 bonded labourers along with their family members - altogether, 48 individuals.

Bandalkar has been booked under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act.

According to PTI, Indapur tehsildar has issued documents to the labourers, freeing them from their bonded status, the official added.

Jalgaon train accident: Many victims were Nepalese labourers, security guards

A number of passengers who died in the Pushpak Express accident were either working as labourers at construction sites or working as security guards and house helps in and around Mumbai.

A few passengers of the Lucknow-Mumbai Pushpak Express, who got off the train after an alarm chain-pulling incident, were run over by the Karnataka Express heading from Bengaluru to Delhi on the adjacent track in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district on Wednesday evening. Thirteen have been declared dead and 15 injured.

Radha Bhandari, daughter-in-law of deceased Kamla Navin Bhandari, 43, who worked at Colaba, said, "We were coming to Mumbai to join work but now there is no hope left. We have received the cheque and compensation money from the railways and have been asked to submit bank details. But money cannot compensate for the loss of life. We are originally from a village in Nepal and are now going back there."

Ramrang Pasi, companion of deceased Lacchiram Khatru Pasi, also from Nepal said, "I was accompanying him and the only close one travelling with him. Lacchiram used to work at Mumbra at a construction site and we were on the way there when this unfortunate incident happened."

Raju Vishwakarma, who lost two of his family members - his mother-in-law Javakala Bhate Jaykadi, 60, and Himu Nandram Vishwakarma, 11 - was devastated. "We have received money from the government, but what do we do with it? We were coming back to Mumbai from Lucknow as I work as a security guard at Bhiwandi. Our family belongs to Koshi Province in Nepal."

(With PTI inputs)