KENDRAPARA: The district administration has decided to develop a database of plumbers working outside Odisha and abroad to ensure prompt assistance and support in their times of need.
Collector Samarth Verma said a helpline will also be set up at the State Institute for Plumbing Technology (SIPT), Pattamundai to enable the plumbers to contact the administration for help. The District Labour Officer (DLO) has been asked to prepare the database with the help of panchayats and NGOs by end of this year, he said. Around 80,000 people from Pattamundai, Aul, Rajnagar and Rajkanika blocks of the district work as plumbers in different parts of the country and abroad.
Every year, thousands from the district migrate outside for work. They are often exploited by middlemen, contractors, builders and others at their workplaces. “The database and helpline will help them inform us about their plight,” Verma said.
Expressing happiness over the district administration’s move, a local plumber said it would help the community in a great way. “There is hardly any village in Rajnagar, Aul, Rajnkanika and Pattamundai blocks without its share of migrant plumbers. They have been dominating the sanitary business both in India and abroad for decades.”
“Large numbers of trained plumbers also work independently to eke out their livings thanks to the establishment of SIPT at Pattamundai, the plumbers’ cradle’ of the district. Many often fall prey to fraudulent recruitment practices by fake visa and travel agents. Now we hope they will get help from the authorities,” said Jagajiban Das, president of the district unit of Centre of Indian Trade Unions.