Panda asks Telangana CM to look into Odia labourers’ plight

Bhubaneswar: Taking up the plight of Odia migrant labourers again, senior BJD MP from Kendrapara Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda has written a letter to Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao seeking his intervention in the matter, said sources here today.

In his letter, Panda has asked for minimum wages to the Odia labourers working at brick kilns in the southern state, police protection for them to check their physical abuse, housing and education to their children under social welfare schemes to help improve their condition.

Further, the parliamentarian has also mentioned about his spot visits to the brick kilns in Ranga Reddy district of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh to get a first-hand account of the plight of Odia labouers working there after he came to know from reports published in an English daily about their exploitation and deplorable working condition.

During his first visit, Panda was assured by the joint labour commissioner accompanying him of corrective measures to address the problems faced by the Odia labourers and monitoring measures for payment of wages to them.

However, during the second visit, he did not find any change in the condition of the labourers as the same issues continued to persist, the letter has pointed out, requesting Rao to look into the matter and expedite the measures to enhance the basic minimum humanitarian condition of the workers.