Authorities rescued 13 workers, including four child labourers, from a garment ironing and packing unit in Tiruppur after a complaint alleged exploitative and bonded labour-like conditions at the facility, officials said.
A joint team led by Tiruppur Revenue Divisional Officer Sivaprakash, North Tahsildar Govindasamy and North Police Inspector Rajinikanth inspected the unit on October 8. The facility is located in Bharathi Nagar on Goundanayakkanpalayam Road.
The complaint alleged that boys and girls from several districts were being housed at the premises and made to work without appropriate wages. During the inspection, officials found 13 people staying and working at the unit. The group comprised six young women and seven young men, officials said. Four of those rescued were identified as child labourers.
The workers came from several districts of Tamil Nadu, including Tirunelveli, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Coimbatore, Erode, Salem and Theni. Their presence at the unit points to the movement of workers from across the state into Tiruppur’s garment production network, although the authorities have not yet released details about how they were recruited or transported.
Officials questioned the owner of the unit, identified as Sivakumar. The rescued children were taken into custody, and authorities asked about their living conditions, access to food and payment of wages. The inspection followed a complaint and was conducted by revenue and police officials together, bringing labour conditions at a small garment-linked workplace under administrative scrutiny.
Representatives of the establishment disputed the allegations during the inquiry. They claimed that the workers had been employed at the unit for the previous six months and that their wages had been paid regularly. The claim has not been independently established in the report, while the authorities’ inquiry remains underway.
The incident places attention on the administrative challenge of monitoring workers who live and work within small production facilities rather than in formally identified industrial premises. In this case, officials found workers from multiple districts housed at the unit, while the complaint raised questions about wages and working conditions. The available information does not establish the duration or nature of the alleged violations beyond the complaint and the findings recorded during the inspection.
Further investigations by the Revenue Department and the police are underway. Authorities are expected to continue examining the workers’ living conditions, wage payments and the circumstances in which the four children were employed at the facility.
