Kolkata: Three construction workers from Alipurduar, who were allegedly held captive in Bhutan and made to work as “bonded labour”, were rescued and brought back to Bengal on Thursday.
Nurjamal Haque, Raju Haque and Ali Hussain — all residents of Sishubari village — were held in Bhutan for a year and a half before Sadekul Islam, an IT professional and social worker from Birbhum, learnt about their plight and contacted the Alipurduar district administration, the Indian external affairs ministry and the Bhutan foreign ministry, which finally led to their rescue.
“We went to Bhutan with our contractor in January 2020. The latter returned to India before the lockdown was imposed. Our employer claimed the contractor had taken nearly Rs 3 lakh in advance and wasn’t returning the money. The employer wanted the money back. Since we did not have any money, our employer confiscated our work permits and stopped us from returning to India without finishing the job at his site,” Nurjamal told TOI after returning home.