MHA seeks Punjab govt’s response on report claiming Punjab farmers drug labourers, use them as bonded labour

The MHA has sought the reply of the Punjab Chief Secretary and DGP of Punjab Police on a report which claims that farmers in bordering areas of the state drug workers and use them as bonded labour.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has written to the Punjab Chief Secretary and DGP of Punjab Police, claiming that farmers in the bordering villages of the state drug workers from outside the state. The letter, dated March 17, alleged that farmers from border areas in Punjab drug labourers from UP and Bihar. According to the MHA letter, labourers are often drugged and made to work in the fields. “They are not given wages even after doing more work than scheduled. Most of these labourers working in fields in frontier districts of Punjab belong to the backward areas of UP and Bihar and poor families. Human trafficking gangs bring such labourers to Punjab by luring them with good salaries, but they are exploited when they reach Punjab. They are treated inhumanly.”