A youth who worked in Malaysia as a migrant labourer from the coastal district here, after fleeing to native land, spilled the beans on the harrowing experience of work culture and the ordeal he faced in the alien land.
About 24 youths of Kendrapada, Derabish, Rajnagar, Aul and Rajnagar blocks had been to Malaysia on May 24 last after being lured by job offers by a Bhubaneswar-based placement agent S Dash .The youths’ horrendous time started from the day the agent put them up in Malaysia and returned to India. The educated diploma holders several technical courses, including hotel management, were forced to work as petty wage earners at the Malaysia based- CNC construction power plant in Sitiawan, about 250 km from Kuala lumpur. They were exposed to hazardous work surroundings and forced to work hard. If they did not oblige, they were tortured physically and denied food by the company people.
Ranjan Kumar Pradhan of Bindhasahi, who underwent the untold sufferings but managed to return home on Thursday, narrated that even the company employees forcibly took away their pass ports in order to restrict them from returning back home. “When a youth fell sick, we requested the company authorities to provide him treatment and allow him to fly back home but it was turned town,” alleged Pradhan. He continued that five of their group are still languishing as illegal immigrants in Malaysia and are literally leading a caged life
However, placement agent S Dash, admitting that the Odia workers were tortured in Malaysia, assured of their early repatriation. When contacted, District labout Officer Pradipta Kumar Mohanty stated that he was unaware about the development. However, he said that after a probe, steps would be taken to bring back the youths.