: A group of 28 migrant labourers from Patrapur block in Ganjam district are allegedly being tortured and exploited in Malaysia.
Three of the labourers, who managed to escape, approached Ganjam district collector requesting his intervention for facilitating the return of all labourers stranded in Malaysia.
The workers said 32 of them had reached Malaysia through a dubious middleman who had promised them a better life and salary.
With the death of one worker and three of them returning, 28 are still stranded.
According to these workers, the middleman had promised them daily wages of 1,000 rupees per month in Malaysia. But they alleged that what they were getting in Malaysia was amounting to around 100 rupees per day. Apart from it they were compelled to live in inhuman condition and were facing physical and mental torture at the hands of their employer in Malaysia.
They also informed the collector that some middlemen were still collecting 70,000 rupees from gullible youths in Patrapur block with the promise of sending them to Malaysia for employmentCollector Prem Chand Choudhary promised to take up the matter with the Labour department and Ministry of External Affairs for return of labourers stranded in Malaysia.
‘Some middlemen are still collecting 70,000 rupees from gullible youths’
