SAMBALPUR: The bogey of illegal migrant labour (dadan), pandemic to western Orissa, is spreading its evil tentacles to newer areas in the region due to insufficient monitoring by the authorities. Sambalpur more or less remained unaffected by this blight, but lately, the district has added its name to the chart of migrant labour hotbeds which is topped by Bolangir and Nuapada districts.
Absence of licensed labour contractors in the district has compounded the problem. This year, the district did not see renewal of even a single labour contract licence, said deputy labour commissioner UK Mohanty.
Earlier this month, Sarojini Majhi of Kharmunda village under Jamankira block in the district had approached the collector and the SP to help her find his son. A middleman took Aravind Majhi, 19, her son, to Bangalore in June. However, the teen has since remained incommunicado. The middleman, who lured him into going out by paying advance money, remains evasive.
Arvind is not alone. There are hundreds of youths from poor and backward classes in the district who are headed to other states in search of greener pastures – mostly through illegal channels. People leave in hundreds even as the local labour office sits cool with no records about them.
What has complicated the issue here is that the district has very few licensed labour contractors. According to Mahanta, Sambalpur recorded zero licence renewal this year while not a single new licence was given away. This is in sharp contrast with Bolangir and Nuapada – the two most dadan-prone districts in the state. The number of labour contractor licences issued in Balangir rose from 171 in 2015-16 to 547 during the last financial year – a three-fold rise while it went up from 70 to 110 in Nuapada district during the same period.
District labour offices (DLOs) in Bolangir and Nuapada took up issuing labour contractor licences on a campaign mode while their counterparts in Sambalpur remained indifferent to this.
miigrantOne of the basic problems affecting the district labour office here is staff shortage. According to Mahanta, the office runs with two clerks and two peons only, while the DLO post, which was lying vacant for some time, will be filled up soon as a new DLO is appointed.
Although the question of how many labour licences were renewed or fresh licences issued in the district is no yardstick to measure the achievements of DLOs, it would certainly help in better monitoring of the labourers going outside state for work.
Sisir Mishra, OP
