BHUBANESWAR: Eleven Odia workers, who were held captive by their contractor in Sri Lanka, were rescued on the intervention of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. They had been taken to Sri Lanka by two middlemen to work in a construction company with a promised salary of Rs 60,000 per month and eight working hours a day.
A few days after reaching a place in the neighbouring country, they were forced to work for 15 hours every day. When they protested, the gullible workers were locked up in a room. They somehow made a video of their plight and uploaded it on social media which went viral.
Ashish Mishra, leader of the BJD youth wing saw the video and informed the Mo Parivar office. ‘Helping Odias in distress’ being one of the key mandates of ‘Mo Parivar’, its members tried to reach out to the distressed Odia youths.
Their efforts paid dividend as the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) came to know about the incident. On the direction of the Chief Minister, the CMO contacted the Indian Embassy in Sri Lanka following which four workers were rescued and safely brought to Chennai on January 9.
CM steps bring back distressed Odias
After BJD Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra followed up the issue with the External Affairs Ministry, all the workers returned to Odisha safe and sound on Sunday.
Abani Kumar Sahu, senior advocate of Supreme Court and legal advisor to Mo Parivar pursued the entire case. An FIR was lodged at the Banapur police station. The case was also discussed with a private lawyer in Sri Lanka and the press in Sri Lanka was activated.
All the workers belong to Khurda district. They are Anand Behera of Gobardhanpur, Lakshmi Behera of Dhuanla, Siba Pradhan of Hati Munda, Kabi Das of Dasaghara Sahi, Laxmikant Sahu of Sarala Padar, Kishore Tarei of Balugaon, Ashis Kumar Maharana of Binjala Harichandanpur, Pankaj Pradhan of Banapur Sasan, Balaram Rout of Hatimunda, Debraj Nayak of Hati Munda and Subhas Pradhan of Achyuta Rajpur Sasan.