Efforts on to rescue 13 Odisha migrant workers detained at Telangana brick kiln 

BHAWANIPATNA: A day after 13 migrant workers, 12 of them women, from Kalahandi, forcefully detained at a Telangana brick kiln since December, sent a video message seeking rescue, officials of the Labour department on Monday visited their villages to probe the details from those who had escaped and returned home.

A total of 24 workers were sent off by a middleman in November to work at the kiln, of which 11 men managed to escape. 

Preliminary information revealed that all the 24 workers belonging to villages in Dharamgarh and Golamunda blocks of Kalahandi, had been sent through a middleman to work at a brick kiln in Chintamanipalli under Kamareddy PS of Telangana.

The brick kiln owner had reportedly promised to pay Rs 30,000 to the workers to complete the work within six months after paying an advance of Rs 3 lakh to middleman Bishnu Prasad Majhi.

A resident of Mukhiguda village, Majhi has been absconding after taking the payment and also did not keep in touch with the workers and their families. 

Rajesh Majhi, one of the workers who managed to escape from the kiln,  said all of them were subjected to ill treatment and stayed there in inhospitable working conditions.

Eleven workers managed to escape and reached their native villages. However, the employer detained the remaining 13 (12 of them being women) and threatened to hold them hostage until they returned the advance money paid to the middleman. 

Meanwhile on the day, officials from the District Labour Office visited the villages of the detained workers and interacted with those who had escaped and returned home.

District Labour Officer Narendra Raika said officials in Telangana have been contacted and steps are being taken to rescue the stranded workers at the earliest.