Police on Thursday rescued as many as 52 migrant workers including 17 minor girls from Kantabanji in Balangir district while they were being trafficked to Hyderabad.
The workers, including 18 men, 17 women and 17 minor girls, were natives of Sinapali block in Nuapada district and Belpada block in Balangir.
As per reports, the migrants had assembled at the Kantabanji railway station on the instructions of the middleman and the labour contractor on Wednesday night.
The latter were taking them to Hyderabad without any valid documents, to work as bonded labour. However, the Kantabanj police reached the spot and rescued all the labourers. The middleman was arrested, but the labour contractor managed to flee.
Official sources said that of the 52 workers, 36 were from Sinapali block in Nuapada district. All the labourers were being taken illegally without any documents or licences. The two accused middlemen were identified as Sundar Kumar and Ramesh Rana, both from Sihini village in Belpada block of Balangir. While Sundar was nabbed, Ramesh was on the run.
“Two separate cases will be filed against the accused. The rescued labourers will be handed over to the Labour Department and efforts will be made to accommodate them under various welfare schemes,” said the District Labour Officer.