B’NGIR MIGRANT LABOUR DIES IN AP BRICK KILN Tuesday, 21 January 2014 | SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

B’NGIR MIGRANT LABOUR DIES IN AP BRICK KILN

Tuesday, 21 January 2014 | SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

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Even as the State Government has been making tall claims of providing jobs at the doorsteps under the MGNREGA and other schemes, yet poor people of Balangir district are continuing to migrate to other States in search of livelihoods only to face torture and exploitation and even lose their lives.

When the tragic story of the hacking of the hand of the 12-year-old boy Susant Kumbhar from the Patnagarh area of the district in a brick kiln in Karnataka has been making headlines, another gruesome incident of a migrant family of the district has just come to the fore.

According to reports, Gobardhan Nag (41) of Mahulpati village under the Tureikela police station was taken to a brick kiln of GBI Rama Chandra of Gadarpadu in Mehboobnagar district of Andhra Pradesh by two labour agents Makardhawja Puta and Nabaghana Kharsel of the village just after the Nabanna festival last year. 

A few days later, both Makardhawja Puta and Nabaghana Kharsel took Gobardhan’s daughter Malti Nag (11) to the same brick kiln. Soon afterwards, they took Gobardhan’s wife Surya and their two other children Rashmita (9) and Jitu (7) to the brick kiln.

Gobardhan’s father Dhruba Nag (65) said, “I came to know about the missing of Gobardhan Nag and the subsequent floating of his body in a pond from a labourer working there. I believe he was killed there. I appeal to the authorities to inquire into the case and take steps to rescue our family members from the brick kiln.”

Balangir Superintendent of Police Ravi Prakash told this correspondent, “I have instructed the Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Titilagarh to look into the case.”