Bhawanipatna: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has stepped in to address severe human rights violations and labour exploitation involving migrant workers from Odisha across two separate incidents in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Following formal petitions submitted by human rights activist Dilip Kumar Das, the rights panel issued directives seeking comprehensive action-taken and investigation reports from key district and police authorities in both states.
The first case involves the fatal fall of 33-year-old Anjana Majhi, a migrant construction worker from Paruaguda village in Kalahandi district. On April 11, 2025, Majhi died instantly after falling from a 20-storey building at an Adithri Housing Company construction site at Velimela in Hyderabad. According to the complaint registered, the tragedy resulted from the employer’s failure to provide mandatory safety equipment, constituting severe labour law and human rights violations.
Taking up the matter on October 21, the NHRC directed the Sangareddy district collector and the Hyderabad police commissioner to submit investigation and action-taken reports within two weeks. The petition demanded ₹30 lakh in compensation for Majhi’s surviving husband, Bina Majhi, alongside strict legal action against the employer.
In a concurrent intervention, the NHRC issued a notice to the NTR district collector in Vijayawada regarding the illegal confinement and torture of two sisters from Bolangir district. The victims, Barsha Barik (19) and her minor sister Nisha (15), were allegedly held captive at a Vijayawada brick kiln after their father, Somnath Barik, went missing at the railway station on October 30, 2025. While the contractor allowed their mother, Saraswati, and young brother to leave, the sisters were detained, subjected to physical abuse, and forced to work without wages to repay a ₹42,000 debt owed to a middleman.
With local complaints filed at Belpada police station going unaddressed, the NHRC took up the matter after media reports surfaced. Following an October 14 hearing, the commission mandated an Action Taken Report within two months from the NTR district collector. Authorities were ordered to strictly enforce the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, Supreme Court directives, and NHRC Advisory guidelines to rescue and rehabilitate the victims while initiating criminal proceedings if bonded labour is established.
