Cases to be booked against contractors

Karimnagar: Odisha’s Labour department is planning to issue notices and book cases against certain contractors, following alleged assault by owners and supervisors of brick kilns of Karimnagar district on a migrant worker of the neighbouring state.  

Speaking to this newspaper over the phone, Madanmohan Paik, Balangir district labour officer, said that they were receiving many complaints against some contractors who exploit and harass the migrant labourers after bringing them to Karimnagar district. The district has over 200 registered and around 100 unregistered brick kilns in Peddapalli revenue division. Over 50 migrant labourers of Odisha are engaged in different tasks at each kiln. This means about 10,000 workers migrate to Karimnagar district in search of livelihood from November to June every year. They are hired by contractors.

Allegedly, many owners and supervisors assault the workers and their women for their poor performance at kilns. Their atrocities came to fore only when a 30-year-old pregnant woman died of injuries caused after three supervisors of a brick kiln beat up her for absence from work at Hanumanthunipadu village in Peddapalli mandal on October 3. On January 14 evening, Sahadev, a migrant driver was allegedly thrashed   by the owner of another brick kiln at Rangampet village.

“We have received a complaint from the kin of Sahadev. We will issue notices to all the culprits. We will book First Information Report (FIR) against them and prosecute them as per provisions of the Interstate Migrants Act, 1979 and the Building and Other Constructions Act, 1996. Arrests would be made if found guilty,” explained Mr Madanmohan.

Replying to a query, the labour officer said that they were following procedures when allowing the contractors to hire the labourers.  “We are taking a slew of measures for the welfare of the labourers. We are creating awareness in order to ensure safe migration. We issue identity cards to them for providing compensation in case of accident or death.  It is the responsibility to employing state (Telangana) to inspect whether the contractors were authorised, or not,” he pointed out.