TIRUNELVELI
A group of residents of Thalaivankottai near Sankarankovil in the district submitted a petition to Collector Shilpa Prabhakar Satish on Monday appealing to her to take immediate steps to ensure the safe return of their breadwinners stranded in Malaysia for the past four months in hostile conditions.
Led by Poosaipandian, former village panchayat president of Thalaivankottai, the petitioners said 49 persons from Thalaivankottai and surrounding villages were taken to Malaysia by a private agency four months ago for erecting high tension power transmission towers on a promise of an attractive salary.
However, the hired labourers were not given the promised salary. “They were forced to work for more than 14 hours a day without overtime salary and not given proper food and shelter to sleep at night. Besides treating them like ‘bonded labourers’, the private agency that hired our men has paid salary for only one month though they had already worked for four months. Those who demanded their salary and proper food and shelter have been threatened and even assaulted. Since they have sent an SOS through WhatsApp, we’re submitting this petition to ensure their early rescue,” said Mr. Poosaipandian.
The family members of the stranded men said they could not contact their breadwinners as their mobile phones had apparently been seized either by the employer or the private agency executing the contract of power transmission tower installation.
