A total of 491 migrant labourers returned from various brick kilns of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to their villages in Balangir district till Wednesday to cast their vote in the April 10 polls. The labourers included 25 migrant labourers who came from three brick kilns of Hyderabad to their homes in Bongomunda under Tureikela block in the district.
The labourers were brought back after consultation with their brick kiln owners while labour contactor Arjun of Kantabanji played a key role in facilitating their return after district Collector M Muthukumar initiated steps to bring them back so that they could exercise their franchise in the April 10 general elections.
The process to bring back the migrants had started during an informal discussion between Collector Muthukumar, Balangir SP Ravi Prakash and The Pioneer correspondent Sudhir Mishra which was highlighted first in The Pioneer. After the newspaper reports, a meeting was held being attended by the Collector, the District labour Officer, labour contractors of the district and mediapersons on March 23.
The Collector told the contactors to bring the labourers back so that they could cast their votes. The Collector also wrote letters to his counterparts in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. There was a lot of apprehension among many people whether these migrant labourers could be brought back to cast their votes. While 25 labourers have arrived, there were reports of more of them coming from Hyderabad.