Sisir Panigrahy By

Express News Service

BERHAMPUR: Their fight against the age-old customary bonded labour system has piled more misery on five lower caste families in Kuannanda village of Ganjam district.

For the last five years, they have been condemned to social ostracism, barred from using the community water bodies and facilities to the extent of purchasing from village shops. They are not even allowed to walk on land owned by the villagers. Their crime, they did not adhere to the bonded labour system prevalent in the village despite abolition of the practice under Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976.

As per tradition, the families belonging to the barber caste had to serve the people, doing haircuts during rituals of various occasions and functions. They were given 30 kg of paddy per household every year in lieu of custom-dictated service. However, the problems started when the new generation of families adopted other vocations for better income and they could no longer serve the villagers.

Angered over their refusal to abide by tradition, the villagers imposed restrictions on the families of Sanyasi Dakua, Santosh Dakua, Kedar Dakua, Kailash Dakua and Babula Dakua. For the last five years, the families with 32 members are forced to collect water and other needs from nearby Jhitikabadi village.

Even land owned by them have been left barren for want of irrigation water.

After their appeals to free them from the bonded labour system did not yield any result, they knocked the door of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The NHRC asked the OHRC to take up the matter and the latter directed the district administration to take action. Chhatrapur Sub-Collector conducted a hearing in November last year and received declarations from the villagers over the issue in December.

But nothing has reportedly changed as the families have claimed to be continuing to face ostracism.

Meanwhile, an organisation, ‘Goti Birodhi Bharat,’ has taken up their cause and assured them of filing a case in the Orissa High Court. The local police is also taking steps to resolve the issue.

The villagers, however, have refuted the charges and stated no restrictions have been imposed on the families. The villagers have been obtaining service for rituals from the barbers who have put up hair salons in the area. On stopping irrigation to their land, a village elder, Dandapani Rout, said each farmer has to pay fees for access to water under Pani Panchayat norms. The families did not pay the fees.

“No restriction has been imposed on the five families, rather they themselves have kept distance from others”, Rout said.