TEZPUR, Sept 29 - Many tea garden areas in Sonitpur district have in recent times become hotspots for human trafficking gangs, from where many children and women have been trafficked during the last few years. Meanwhile, organisations like Auxilium Troncatti Home under Auxilium Reachout Home located at Goroimari-Solabasti area near here has been rendering yeoman service in the tea garden areas with special focus on rescue of the trafficked children and women.
Records reveal that minors and girls of more than 50 tea gardens in the State, namely Sonabil, Malijan, Nahorani, Tinkhuria, Tarajuli, Dhendai, Kalani, Ghoirali, Kacharigaon, Belsiri, Manmuhinipur, Monabag, Samoguri, Dibrudarang, Sopai, Tinkhoria, Tulip, Dhekiajuli, Tezpur Gogra, Rupajuli, Kothalguri, Dholapadung, Namgaon, Hatibari, Harsora, Phulbari, New Adabari, Sesa etc., in Sonitpur district have off and on fallen prey to human traffickers.
Hundreds of reportedly missing teenagers, mostly girls hailing from the aforementioned areas, have not been located till date. Marked as an epicentre of human trafficking, the overall scenario provides a dismal picture of these tea estates which have emerged as hotbeds of human trafficking.
Exposing the root causes behind this shocking and heart-breaking episode, Augustine Kandulana, president of ant-trafficking vigilant committee of the area, a resource person for State Resource Centre, Assam, Himangshu Saikia and Sister Anna revealed that the growing urge for better livelihood options and employment have turned these areas into a fertile ground for women traffickers.
In the past few years, thousands of young men and women of the State have fallen prey to the sinister designs of the well- organised gangs of human traffickers. The unsuspecting men and women have often been exploited as cheap labourers and sex workers.
�Poverty, prevalence of country liquor (locally known as hariya), school dropouts, lack of awareness, etc., among many other issues are the reasons behind frequent human trafficking. People in these areas hardly realise what trafficking is and the legal affairs related to trafficking. Most importantly, they even don�t get a platform to raise their voices. So, considering all these aspects, we have been trying our best to give at least minimum justice and rehabilitation to the victims through various short-term and long-term programmes like fashion designing, weaving, tailoring, computer training etc.�
They added that one Tarun Bhuyan, a trafficking agent, taking advantage of the absence of elders at home, covertly took away three school-going boys, � Bishnu Tanti, Rohit Tanti and Anand Surin from Malijan TE near Tezpur town to Haryana by promising them good jobs in 2016/17, which was informed to the anti-human trafficking vigilant members after three years.
�However, we managed to nab the accused agent who helped us to track down the location of the three trafficked boys and brought them back safely from Haryana on July 20, 2019. Likewise on August 26, 2018, Sobha and Shanti (names changed) two 16/17 year-old school dropout girls of the same area were brought back home safely by a person who worked in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh.�
On August 12, 2018, the agent was identified and summoned by the Anti-Human Trafficking Vigilant Committee members and warned her of stern punishment if she did not bring back the girls safely. The agent sought one-week time and promised to bring back the girls. Accordingly, the girls were brought back home safely on August 26, 2018.
�The above are only two stories we have narrated before you. Regrettably, there are many other horrific stories happening every minute in our society. The tea garden authorities too can play a role in this regard, though they never do it,� they maintained.
In the meantime, to make people aware about the ills of human trafficking, dowry demand, domestic violence and its causes, free legal services etc., social worker-cum-senior journalist of the district Himangshu Saikia, also a resource person of the State Resource Centre, Assam, under the Union HRD Ministry, has already held a series of awareness programmes in most of the aforementioned tea estates through street-plays, songs, lectures etc.
Meanwhile, Rajashree Goswami, who has been instrumental in rescuing a number of trafficked girls from various parts of the nation, opined that in order to get respite from such type of incidents, social awareness and proper way of livelihood is a must.
