Karlamunda: A nineteen-year-old girl from Banjipadar village under Gochadengan panchayat of M. Rampur block in Kalahandi district, who had gone to Tamil Nadu as migrant worker, is missing for the past seven months. The girl is Rashmita, daughter of Gopinath Suna.
Her family has sought help from the police and the administration for her safe return. According to Suna, his daughter was taken to Tamil Nadu by one Yudhistir Bibhar. She was among five girls he took there by promising better wages.
Later, Suna learned that his daughter was missing. Yudhistir said the girl had left him some time ago. The four other girls were now back home. They said they were unaware of Rashmita’s whereabouts.
The missing girl’s family accused Yudhistir of trafficking their daughter and selling her to someone. They lodged a complaint with the police. “Yudhistir is roaming free, and police made no effort to question him,” the family says. A distressed Suna approached the district collector and SP and submitted them petitions, urging them to trace his daughter.
Notably, poor girls and boys from various tribal pockets of the state are lured by labour agents and brokers to states like Tamil Nadu, Gujurat, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala on the promise of better wages. Kalahandi district has a large number of youths working in other states to earn their livelihood.
The migrant workers are often subjected to inhuman torture and long hours of physical labour by their employers, as per reports in the past.