7 migrant labourers from Odisha trapped in AP

KalingaTV News Network

Nabarangpur: Seven migrant labourers, including five of a family and four minors, from Medna village under Dabugaon village in the district have reportedly been trapped in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh for the last right months where they had gone to work in a brick kiln. The incident came to the fore after seven others from the same village returned to their homes and narrated the whole ordeal in front of their family members.

According to reports, 14 persons from Medna and Birisoala village under Dabugaon block in Nabarangpur district went to Nagapur village under Paradapalli police limits in Ramagundam village in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh to work in a brick kiln around eight months ago. The workers had been sent to the neighbouring state by agents from Medna, Banma and Beheramunda villages with the promise of handsome wage, but realised on arrival there that they had been taken for a ride.

The brick kiln owner did not pay them any wages and made work hard with only pocket money for food once a week. The owner of the brick kiln also told them to surrender their mobile phones and valuable ornaments to him.

Worried over the ordeal, seven of the migrant labourers – namely Sridhar Gouda and wife Banai Gouda of Birisola village along with Nababali Bhatra, Ushabadi Bhatra, Sanumati Bhatra, Dharami Kumbhar, and Chandrakala Kumbhar – of Medna village returned home recently. However, the brick kiln owner did not allow the seven others namely, Nagesh Sarabu (50), his wife Gura Sarabu (42) along with his daughters Bhagabati Sarabu (15), Mangaldei Sarabu (13), and Tulsi Sarabu (11) to return to their village and held them hostage. Two others from Medna village Purba Gouda (55) and Sana Bhatra (16) were also kept under illegal detention by the brick kiln owner.

The cheated villagers have lodged a complaint at the Nabarangpur District Labour Officer as well as Dabugaon Police Station in this connection and are demanding immediate intervention of the state government to bring back the labourers trapped in Andhra Pradesh.