Trouble further mounted for Jagi Mangat Panda and his husband and BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda over the Sarua land scam as contractual employees of Tarang (Odisha Infratech Pvt Ltd) Sarua project have, in a memorandum, sought invention of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Governor Ganeshi Lal and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to help them get their arrear dues and permanent jobs in the company.
The employees have alleged that they gave their lands to the company looking after the project in Sarua in Khordha district on the assurance of getting jobs.
However, the company provided them only contractual jobs. Besides, it did not pay salary during the lockdown despite the Central and State Governments’ guidelines that salaries should be paid during the lockdown.
They further alleged, “Some scheduled caste persons had complained against the company about fraudulent transfer of their lands. The company wanted us to make the people withdraw the case. When we could not do the same, they sacked us,” alleged the employees.
They further mentioned that a relative of Baijayant Panda had threatened and harassed them when they were staging their dharna in front of the Tarang Sarua project gates.
They had withdrawn the protest after the Deputy Labour Commissioner assured them of a solution on November 11.
Stating that the lands they have given for the project were their only source of income, the agitators asked as to why they have been thrown out of the jobs.