A migrant worker was allegedly beaten to death in Odisha’s Balangir district apparently after he hesitated to accompany a labour contractor to work in a brick-kiln.
The victim Jagadish Mirdha, 48, of Dumerpadar village, had taken a token advance from the contractor to work outside the State with his wife and two sons.
“My father was forcibly taken in a car by Bhagaban Bariha and Shanti Bariha, henchmen of labour contractor Bishnu, on December 9 evening. The next day, they threw him in front of our house. His condition was critical and we immediately rushed him to a Patnagarh hospital,” said Baikuntha Mirdha, victim’s son.
The Patnagarh hospital referred him to the Balangir District Headquarters Hospital, which asked the family to take him to the V.S.S. Medical College Hospital on December 11. As they could not afford further treatment, the patient was brought back to Patnagarh. He died on December 11. A complaint has been registered with the Patnagarh police.
“The labour contractor had given us ₹5,000 each. The full advance was not paid and so we were reluctant to go to work,” said Jagdish’s wife Yamuna. “But the contractor constantly threatened us, claiming that we had been paid over ₹1 lakh. My husband was healthy. They brutally beat him up and left him to die.”
Balangir, a poverty-stricken western Odisha district, sends thousands of migrant workers to States like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
