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‘We pleaded with the owners’ — Grief & blame at Haryana brick kiln after 2 kids drown in pit

Labourers claim the owners of Ujala Kiln in Jhajjar district had dug an 8-10 feet deep pit to drain out accumulated rainwater. Police call it an accident and refuse to file an FIR.

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New Delhi: Sakaldev and Madho are grieving. Their sons — Sakaldev’s four-year-old Sunny and Madho’s two-year-old Gunjan — drowned in a water-filled pit dug at a brick kiln in Majra village in Haryana’s Jhajjar Tuesday. 

The two children were playing at a brick kiln at Ujala in the village when they slipped and fell into the pit, which was filled with water after a recent spell of rain.  

They were taken to the Jhajjar Civil Hospital but were declared brought dead. 

“I don’t know what to do now. My family is completely ruined. My wife refuses to eat anything. She’s been crying and fainting,” Sakaldev, who, like many Indians, goes by only one name, told ThePrint over the phone as he was travelling back to his village in Jamui, Bihar, for his son’s last rites.

Labourers who work at the brick kiln have accused the owners, brothers Deepak and Anand Gulia, of negligence. They accuse the owners of digging a 8-10 feet deep pit at the kiln to drain out the rainwater despite their protests. 

When ThePrint visited the site, our reporter found no wires to indicate any kind of fencing around the pit nor any warning signs near it.

The owners, however, refute the allegations. Deepak Gulia told ThePrint that the pit was only 1.5-2 feet deep and was dug as part of routine work around the kiln. 

Rajbir, a sub-inspector from the Badli Police Station and the investigating officer, said no First Information Report had been registered in the case.  

“We were alerted of the incident by the hospital. Our investigations show that it was an accident. No employee working there has made a statement against the kiln owners,” he said. 


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The incident

Sakaldev and Madho, both Dalits, had moved to work at Ujala brick kiln eight months ago from Sarband village in Bihar’s Jamui.

According to Anand, some 120-130 labourers are engaged in the kiln. 

Most were migrant workers from Bihar and Bengal, Pappu, a munshi (clerk) at the kiln who goes by one name only, told ThePrint. While the parents worked at the kiln, their children would either help them or play outside unsupervised, he said.

Those who worked there live in houses scattered around it. 

The labourers say the owners had brought in a JCB to dig a 8-10 feet deep pit just after the recent rain had flooded the kin. Some of the labourers told ThePrint that they had alerted the kiln owners that the pit was on their route home and was therefore dangerous but their pleas went unheeded. 

A woman worker who works at the kiln told ThePrint on the condition of anonymity: “If the pit had not been dug, lives of those children would have been saved”.

ThePrint visited the civil hospital but the doctor on duty refused to talk about the incident. 

Some labourers told ThePrint that the Gulias had brought heaps of soil after the accident to try to cover the pit up. 

Sunny’s mother accused Deepak Gulia, who looks after the kiln, of threatening them. 

“Even after our children died, he kept threatening and abusing us,” she told ThePrint. 

For Sakaldev, there’s nothing left in the village. “I’m not coming back,” he said over the phone.

State of India’s brick kilns

According to Down to Earth, about 10 million labourers work in India’s brick kilns on extremely low wages and poor working conditions.  Reports also indicate that workers work in temperatures as high as 124 degrees.

Sunil Kumar, a 60-year-old labourer who works at Ujala, told ThePrint that he gets 70 paise for making a brick. 

“My wife and son also do the same work. If we make 1000 bricks, we get Rs. 700,” he said.

Bandhua Mukti Morcha, an organisation that works for the rights of the workers, has demanded a compensation of Rs.10 lakh from the state government and government jobs for the families of the children who drowned. 

The organisation has also demanded action against Deepak under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act), 1989, and the Inter-State Migration Work Act, 1979.

(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)


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