Four Odia Labourers Stranded In Sri Lanka Return Home

Bhubaneswar: Four of the 11 labourers, who were allegedly held in bondage by their employer in Sri Lanka, retuned to Odisha on Sunday.

The four – Debaraj Nayak, Ashish Maharana and Pankaj Pradhan of Banapur in Khurda district and Kisan Tarai of Balasore – expressed happiness on having escaped the clutches of their tormentor, after arriving at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here.

According to sources, the Indian Embassy in Sri Lanka contacted the victims and rescued them after a video with 11 labourers pleading for help surfaced last week. Formalities to send back the seven others are reportedly underway, the sources said.

The labouerers had alleged that some middlemen took Rs 60,000 from each of them with the promise to get them a job in a reputed company with a salary of Rs 30,000 a month. However, they were made to work for 15 hours a day without proper food. They further alleged that the middlemen had sold them off to the employer and the latter had demanded Rs 2 lakh to free them.

They were beaten up and not provided proper medical care when ill, they added.