As many as sixty migrant workers of Nuapada district will be deprived of casting their votes in the forthcoming elections if the administration does not take steps for their release from two brick kilns of Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh. The workers
belong to Sanmaheswar, Bargaon, Ranimunda and Areda gram Panchayats of Khariar block.
"We requested the kiln owners to leave the workers, but instead of releasing them, the owners are torturing them, we have been informed," told Chanchala Sabar of Kuligaon village and Silu Bhoi of Badmaheswar village of Sanmaheswar GP, relatives of a migrant.
"The workers were taken by a labour broker named Akbar of Kantabanji town of Balangir district. Now, the mobile number of that broker is switched off," the relatives informed.
The relatives have been informed by the workers over phone that the employers are torturing them and not providing the monthly remunerations as committed to them at the villages before they left their homes. They further informed that the workers are also not getting sufficient drinking water.
The relatives have drawn the attention of the District Labour Officer in this regard, but steps to rescue the workers have not yet been initiated.