Following their claim that they have been stranded in Thailand, the Odisha government has initiated the process of rescuing five migrant workers from the state, an official said on Friday.
The unskilled workers, hailing from various areas of Kendrapada district, went to the Southeast Asian nation on tourist visas but were working there at a plywood manufacturing company, the migrants said in a video clip shared on a social media platform.
Alleging that they are being held against their will, denied wages, and subjected to mental and physical harassment by their employer, the workers pleaded with Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi for their rescue and return home.
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“I have been in Thailand for the last two years and three months. But the employer is neither providing wages nor allowing us to return to Odisha. We are not getting proper food either,” one of the workers alleged in the video message. Besides, another worker, Raj Kumar Pasi from Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur region, is also reportedly facing similar difficulties, an officer of the Odisha government said.
“Soon after getting information about the incident, we asked the Kendrapara district administration to conduct a field-level inquiry. We got the inquiry report from the district,” he said. The state government has taken steps to rescue the workers from Thailand, the official said.
“We have intimated the Residence Commissioner at New Delhi. They will coordinate with the Ministry of External Affairs for further action,” he said. The standard workers have been identified as Banoj Kumar Mallik (34), Nalini Das (53), Nityananda Mallik (40), Kailash Chandra Sethy (42), and Umakanta Barik (33).
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