KENDRAPARA: Allegedly exploited by employers and deceived by agents, at least four workers of Ghadiamala village in Kendrapara district returned home from Gabon, Central Africa on Friday after spending over five months.The returnees who spent Rs 1 lakh each to get job overseas as plumbers alleged that they were duped by their employers in Gabon and agents in India.
“We went to Gabon on February 14 in a group through a recruiting agent to work as plumbers for a construction company in Gabon at a monthly salary of Rs 50,000. But the construction company engaged us as daily labourers and did not pay us,” alleged one of the plumbers Bidyadhar Pradhan (24) of Ghadiamala village under Rajnagar block.
Though they were told that the work hours will be limited to eight every day, all the four were forced to work for 12 to 14 hours. “We contacted our agents in India and told them that we cannot tolerate the torture anymore. But they did not pay heed,” said Subhrakanta Pradhan (26) another worker from the village.
Another Prasant Kumar Rout (30) alleged the owner of the company confiscated their passports in Gabon and compelled them to work as construction workers. “We could return to our village after former Kendrapara MP Baijayant Panda intervened,” said another plumber Niranjan Mohanty (27).It may be recalled that Panda had written a letter to India’s ambassador in Congo on June 5 to help the stranded workers return home after their family members appealed to him.
The riverside villages of Pattamundai, Aul, Rajkanika and Rajnagar blocks of the district are home to the best plumbers. Around 50,000 people from these villages go to other states and abroad to eke a living. “But many of them also face problems in the foreign countries as agents and companies exploit and dupe them, said former MLA of Rajnagar, Alekha Jena.