Over three dozen Odia labourers from the coastal district of Kendrapara are allegedly held captive in a plywood company in Laos where they are also allegedly being tortured by the company staff.
Their plight came to the fore after some of the stranded workers, in a video message, appealed to the Central government for their safe rescue.
As per reports, 38 people from Jaynagar panchayat under the Rajkanika block of Kendrapara were engaged in a plywood company in Laos. However, the company stopped its operation about one and a half months ago. They alleged that the owner of the company has neither cleared their salaries for the last two months nor allowed them to return to the country. Broke, stranded, they are struggling for life on the company premises, they said.
Narrating their ordeal in the video message, Saroj Palai, one of the stranded labourers, lamented, "We are left with no money and food now. The company stopped functioning about two months ago, but our salaries have not been paid even though we told the owner about our misery. He is not allowing us to go.”
It is also alleged that some company staff have forcibly taken away their passports.
Expressing serious concern over the sorry state of the stranded labourers, Congress leader Debendra Sharma said, "Some labourers from Jaynagar panchayat are held captive in a plywood company in Laos. They have not received their payments and they are unable to get adequate food. We have met the district collector and gave him the video, other documents and phone numbers of the stranded labourers." Sharma said that the collector has assured necessary steps for the rescue of labourers.