The suffering of the workers in Balangir district shows no sign of stopping. The harassment of the workers has crossed all limits. Male workers were being attacked to death. When women and young women protested, the goons of the brick kiln owner stripped them naked and beat them up. When they protested, they chased and beat the workers. 15 workers from Velapada and Lathora in Balangir district have narrated the untold story of the harassment of the workers. The harassed workers have told the Balangir District Labour Officer how they were being harassed in the brick kiln. The workers, who were tortured, have surrendered their land and gold ornaments in the village and deposited lakhs of rupees with the brick kiln owner and got their freedom. According to the allegations, in Balangir district, the workers are being illegally trafficked to other states by brokers without getting work. It is unspeakable how many workers go there hoping to get two handfuls of food in their stomachs. Harassment is being done. Who is returning after being harassed, and whose body is being returned? A task force has been formed from the district to end the shameful chapter of Dadan Voli.
Despite the task force, one after another, the head of the worker is falling and who is returning after being harassed? Today, the harassed worker who returned to Balangir said something unspeakable with tears in his eyes. He misbehaved with his wife in front of his husband, misbehaved with his young daughter in front of his relatives, and has been subjected to mental and physical harassment. The Dadan workers of Velapada and Lathor in Balangir district have been subjected to mental and physical harassment. On November 1, Dadan Sardar Keshav Majhi of Lathor village illegally lured 4 workers from Velapada and 11 workers from Lathor area to brick making. Since there was no work available in the area, 18 people including children were trafficked in the hope of more money. Keshav Majhi illegally hired workers at Triple R in Naslapalli, Nalgonda district, Telangana. The brick kiln was taken over. Dadan Sardar Keshav Majhi took lakhs of rupees from the brick kiln owner Harekrushna and ran away in the name of the workers. Since the Sardar had taken the workers’ money, the brick kiln owner gave 400 rupees per family to feed every week. The workers protested this and said that they would work 15 to 18 hours a day for a small amount of money, and the harassment started.
The workers were guarded 24 hours a day by the brick kiln owner’s goons. They had to work even if they were sick. After the workers were harassed in the brick kiln for 7 months, they informed the local sarpanch to rescue them. Velapada block Sarpanch Bagdo Pradeep Behera informed the district labor department about this. The accused brick kiln owner Harekrushna, after knowing his son Chandu, locked all the workers in a room and tortured them unspeakably. He stripped the young women and female workers in front of everyone and hid them. They also took away the mobile phone they had kept. The workers said that the Sardar had asked them to return the money they had taken and returned with gold ornaments. They said that they had reached Balangir railway station on a hunger strike with their children as they did not have any money. They complained to the district administration about this and said that the workers were afraid to go to the village because Sardar Keshav Majhi had threatened to kill them if they came to the village. The harassed workers Sangeeta Bagh, Bhagwati Niyal, Shimti Nag and Byasdev Nag have demanded action against the brick kiln owner and Dadan Sardar Keshav Majhi. The state government has promised that industries will come to Balangir district and people will get jobs. Not a single worker will be deprived of work. The tarnished chapter of Dadan Vali will be eradicated forever. The illegal Dadan labour movement will be stopped through a task force. After making many such promises, the government is making excuses but this is the real picture in the district.
Every year, lakhs of workers are illegally trafficked by the Sardars without getting work. In the last few months, more than 14 workers have died in the district while many workers have returned after being harassed. A task force has been formed to stop labor trafficking in areas prone to labor trafficking. But this year, due to lack of work, illegal labor trafficking has continued unabated in the district. Even after the task force, there has been no break in labor trafficking and harassment. While the government has remained silent on the topic of labor trafficking and harassment by forming a task force in name only, the district labor department has become sleepy.
The victims are innocent laborers, who are going to work and returning dead, and who is spending their lives in prison. Complaint after complaint about illegal labor trafficking is being filed, but in the name of investigation, it has been alleged that District Deputy Labor Commissioner Sukant Sethi has been in cahoots with dishonest Sardars and is warming his pockets. According to official data, thousands This incident proves that thousands of workers are working outside, while lakhs of workers are being trafficked illegally. Deepa Neti, Assistant Labor Officer of Balangir, has informed that the persecuted workers were trafficked illegally.
