After Being Denied Food & Salary, 3 Odisha Migrant Workers Walk 1100 KM To Reach Home From Bengaluru
Three labourers from Tingapatna village under Jayapatna block, who had gone to Bengaluru in search of work, had to walk back home after allegedly facing inhuman treatment.
The plight of migrant workers from Odisha has been highlighted for years now. While the state government has repeatedly made lofty claims about various welfare schemes, the reports of rampant migration of workers to other states in search of work show a different reality.
A shocking development that has come to light from the Kalahandi district shows the magnitude of hardships that the workers in the state face.
No salary, food for the workers
Three labourers from Tingapatna village under Jayapatna block, who had gone to Bengaluru in search of work, had to walk back home after allegedly facing inhuman treatment.
VIDEO | After being denied their share of pay and exhausting their savings in Bengaluru, three migrant workers, holding just a pair of water bottles, returned to Koraput (Odisha) on Sunday after walking for almost a month covering 1000 kms, with no food and money left. pic.twitter.com/A63ADgt6zu
¡ª Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 4, 2023
They were compelled to work without pay. Moreover, they were subjected to torture and even not provided with food, Odishatv.in reported.
No money to avail transport
Left with no other choice, they decided to return to their hometown in Odisha. The migrant workers reportedly had depleted their savings and had no sum to avail transport.
Therefore, the trio walked around 1100 km and covered the distance in eight days to reach their village.
According to PTI, the three migrant workers started their journey from Bengaluru around a month ago and reached Odisha's Koraput on April 2 with a pair of water bottles.
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When locals enquired, they shared the details, and some people at Koratput helped them to reach their homes in Kalahandi.
Beaten when workers asked for wage
A report in The Indian Express said that these three migrant workers are part of a 12 members bunch who moved to Bengaluru from Odisha two months ago with the assistance of a middleman. The employer allegedly beat the trio when they asked for wages after working.
PTI/ Representational Image
"We went to Bengaluru to earn money and support our families back home. But after finishing the work, they refused to pay the promised money. When we demanded, we were beaten up. We could not bear the torture, so we decided to escape and walk back to our hometown," said one of the migrant workers to the publication.
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Kumar Debvrat is a copyeditor at Indiatimes. He writes about trending topics in India, from human-interest stories to cricket. He has a sharp eye for detail and a passion for storytelling.
