of the harvest 24 laborers were kept in bondage for sugarcane harvesting in Maharashtra. – Photo: Amar Ujala Detailed On the one hand, the administration talks about providing employment to the people, but something else is done at the ground level. Only the reality comes to the fore. The latest case was seen in Katni district of Madhya Pradesh. The tribal laborers wandering here in search of employment did not get employment, so they got trapped in the hands of the middlemen of Maharashtra. The case is of Vijayraghavgarh assembly of the famous MLA of the state, Sanjay Pathak. Twenty people of village Ubra, Sijhara and Bhareba were cheated by the contractor of Maharashtra for Rs. Gave him and took him to Kolhapur. Started taking work from him day and night. When the laborers asked for money, they used to abuse and beat them. On the matter of going back, they used to demand three to five lakh rupees. The laborers told that they had gone out due to non-availability of employment. The man from Maharashtra had promised a wage of Rs for harvesting sugarcane. Twenty of us had gone from Vijayraghavgarh for work but have not received money for the last two months. They used to thrash on asking for money. Somehow four people ran away from there and returned to Katni. We had also sought help by calling Katni. After this, the relatives of the hostage laborers had complained to Collector Avi Prasad and demanded to release all of them. Taking immediate action, the head of the district corresponded with Kolhapur Collector and SP. The Maharashtra government released all 24 hostage laborers and sent them to harvest by train. However, what action was taken against the guilty contractor and the hostage takers is yet to be known. ,