Kundura: The state government has implemented MGNREGA to ensure at least 100 days of works to daily labourers. However, officials in district and block level are not obeying the government rules. They carry out government construction work by using machines. As a result of which, laborers from Odisha are migrated to outside of the state for doing manual work.
More than 2,000 labourers migrate from various parts of Koraput and other districts south India to work as manual workers there. They were lured by the prospect of higher wages. The middlemen send these people to Hyderbad, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Waltear to work with various unorganised companies in these places. However, the workers end up being tortured by the contractors.
Labourers who have migrated from Asana, Phulbhata, Kerimete and Bagderi panchyats under Kundura block in Koraput district are trapped by the contractors in these places.
With the help of collector K Sudarshan Chakravarthy, District Labor Officer Prassan Panigrahi and IPS Sagarika Nath, 26 migrated laborers have been rescued and they have returned to their homes March 17.
On the other hand, about 2,000 women and men from the above four panchyats under Kundura block still suffer in these areas. Ward members of those four panchyats said those migrated labourers have no money which is coming in their way of coming home.
When asked, assistant engineer Pratap Nayak of Kundura block said some construction work is done by machines, while a bulk of work is done by labourers.
PNN