A labourer of Bhikapada village in the Khallikote area of Ganjam district, who is currently in Malaysia, has threatened to commit suicide if he is not rescued from his rude employer.
Sameer Biswal on Wednesday narrated his ordeal over phone to a man, who had returned to Odisha a few months back. He said he is now admitted to a hospital with low back injury due to physical torture meted out to him by company employees. No company official is taking care of him and only a few co-workers are looking after him, he informed.
“We are forced to eat tamarind seeds and if we refuse to eat, they beat us. We survive on water for three-four days as they are not providing us food. I am in a treacherous condition. Please rescue me otherwise I would commit suicide,’’ Sameer told the man, adding that 12 others belonging to Khallikote and Beguniapada areas have been kept in confinement there.
The distressed family members of these labourers are now anxiously waiting for the Government intervention for safe return of their bread earners. Hoping for a better living, Sameer had gone to Malaysia through an agent in April 2014. Earlier, a Plus Two pass Sameer was giving private tuitions in his village to meet his ends.
However, his dreams came crashing in the foreign land when he had encounters with the tormentors. He couldn’t even attend the last rights of his father, Gobardhan, who died a few months back.
It may be noted that earlier in May 2014, six labourers from Hatabaradiha village of Khordha district’s Chilika Block had returned to their village from Malaysia after being mentally and physically tortured there for over six months.
They were being forced to work for 72-84 hours at a stretch under unhygienic conditions. The company officials also did not pay their wages and even took away their passports so as to keep them forcibly there.
When their visa expired, these youths tried to contact the agents in Odisha and Visakhapatnam, but to no avail. A Malaysian agent demanded Rs 1 lakh from them to send them back to their homeland. left with no option, the family members had to meet the agent’s demands.