Slow burning lives

Workers along with their families travel from villages to work in the brick kilns of Andhra Pradesh after the agricultural season, toiling more than 12 hours a day amidst scorching temperatures and dust, for sums as meagre as ₹10,000 per month

The merciless sun blazes over a brick kiln located between the Anandapuram and Padmanabham villages of Visakhapatnam district in Andhra Pradesh. A group of over 100 workers labour tirelessly, shaping and moulding bricks with practised hands.

At the break of dawn every day, the men and women start lling mould after mould with clay and stack them in a row to dry. Faces are smeared with sweat and clay as the day stretches on. The radiating heat from the furnaces is scorching and the summer temperatures soar beyond 40 degrees Celsius in this part of the State. For several years now, families have been travelling from their villages in neighbouring Odisha to the brick kiln to make a living when the agricultural season is over. The men and women toil over 12 hours a day for about ₹10,000 per month. The physical strain, extreme weather and exposure to brick dust bring a host of health problems.

Children of brick kiln workers are often forced to accompany their parents to work instead of attending school. In the harsh environment at the kiln, childhood is a luxury they cannot a„ord. Sasmita, a teenager, has come to the kiln this season to earn some money for her education expenses. "This is how I spend my summer vacation. Life is very tough here, but the income supports my college fee,” she said.

Andhra Pradesh Labour Department o‰cials say it is heartwrenching when they nd children aged below 10 working in some of these sites.

Last year, the rescued children were readmitted in schools. E„orts are on to set up schools in worksites to accommodate children and keep families together.

◣ Unsafe environment: Children play in a pit being filled up with rice husk to be mixed with clay to bake bricks at a kiln.

◣ Crack of dawn: Work begins early at a brick kiln near Anandapuram village in Andhra Pradesh.

◣ Raw material: Migrant workers load carts with clay to be pressed into brick moulds.

Painstaking process: Women fill moulds with clay to make bricks, one at a time.