Khaprakhol: Khaprakhol police rescued 26 bonded labourers, including 11 women and a minor. Police also arrested two middlemen during raids at two places under this police limits in Bolangir district Sunday night.
In the first case, a team of police personnel on patrolling duty at Harishankar Square intercepted a jeep and rescued 11 migrant labourers from the vehicle. All the rescued labourers are residents of Chabripalli village under Bhanpur panchayat. A middleman Rajendra Kathar was also arrested and produced in court, while the vehicle was seized.
Similarly, while patrolling, another team intercepted a jeep at Kapsipali village and rescued 15 migrant labourers of Lakhna village in Nuapada district. Kharas Majhi, 45, a middleman was arrested and produced in court, Khaprakhol police station IIC Ramakant Sahu said.
As per reports, all the labourers had been paid in advance by the two middlemen and were being trafficked to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to work in brick kilns and other units.
Sunday, as many as 42 bonded labourers, including 15 women and three minors, were rescued by Kantabanji Police from a railway station while they were waiting to board a train to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. The police also arrested a middleman from the spot.
Notably, every year thousands of people from Khaprakhol area leave for Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu to work as migrant labourers at various hazardous units. There they are made to work without wages and forced to live on insufficient food. Many of them manage to return home, while some who are not so fortunate, die while working in these units. The Odisha government and Centre have launched and implementing various projects like MGNREGS to check migration. However, all these have failed to check rampant migration from the district.