491 B’NGIR MIGRANT LABOURERS RETURN TO CAST VOTES Thursday, 10 April 2014 | PNS | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

Bolangir

10th April 2014

DEAR ALL,

I ENCLOSE THE PUBLISHED IN THE PIONEER FOR YOUR PERUSAL .WHEN I FIRST POSTED THE NEWS (9TH MARCH,2014) AND later on 23rd MARCH- THAT BOLANGIR DISTRICT MAGISTRATE WANTS MIGRANTS BACK  FOR VOTING  IT EVOKE A LOT OF CRITICISM AND NOBODY WAS READY TO BELIEVE.

FINALLY 491 MIGRANTS HAVE ARRIVED AND THE TOTAL NUMBER MAY GOES UP TO 1000.

1) LEGALLY THIS YEAR 21855 LABOUR HAVE MIGRATED THROUGH LICENSE CONTRACTORs -WITHIN 10 DAYS ONLY 491 LABOUR RETURNED-

2) THE BRICK KILN OWNER AGREED TO BEAR THEIR TRAVEL EXPENSE -IT SAT A PRECEDENT THAT IF THE DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION DESIRES IT CAN BRING BACK MIGRANT LABOURERS FROM BRICK KILNS FOR VOTING.

CRITICISM of a point /subject IS EASY. However  STREAMLINING THE ADMINISTRATIVE MACHINERY AND DOING SOMETHING IS REALLY DIFFICULT.

3) I HAD   WRITTEN SEVERAL STORIES ON MIGRANT MISS VOTING -IN 2009-ELECTION.NOW I CAN SAY WITH SINCERE EFFORT IT CAN BE CHECKED/REDUCED 

4) THIS effort WAS NOT  my PRIMARY responsibility  I HAVE DONE UP TO THIS LEVEL- REST   IS UP TO ALL, FOR FUTURE COURSE OF ACTION.

5) ALL THIS HAS BEEN POSSIBLE THANKS TO EDITOR OF THE PIONEER,SRI SPNANDA,NEWS BUREAU PEOPLE OF THE PIONEER ,FOR THEIR SUPPORT 

WITH BEST WISHES

yours

SUDHIR MISHRA /PIONEER/BOLANGIR

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491 B’NGIR MIGRANT LABOURERS RETURN TO CAST VOTES

Thursday, 10 April 2014 | PNS | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

A total of 491 migrant labourers returned from various brick kilns of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to their villages in Balangir district till Wednesday to cast their vote in the April 10 polls. The labourers included 25 migrant labourers who came from three brick kilns of Hyderabad to their homes in Bongomunda under Tureikela block in the district.

The labourers were brought back after consultation with their brick kiln owners while labour contactor Arjun of Kantabanji played a key role in facilitating their return after district Collector M Muthukumar initiated steps to bring them back so that they could exercise their franchise in the April 10 general elections.

The process to bring back the migrants had started during an informal discussion between Collector Muthukumar, Balangir SP Ravi Prakash and The Pioneer correspondent Sudhir Mishra which was highlighted first in The Pioneer. After the newspaper reports, a meeting was held being attended by the Collector, the District Labour Officer, labour contractors of the district and mediapersons on March 23.

The Collector told the contactors to bring the labourers back so that they could cast their votes. The Collector also wrote letters to his counterparts in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. There was a lot of apprehension among many people whether these migrant labourers could be brought back to cast their votes. While 25  labourers have arrived, there were reports of more of them coming from Hyderabad.

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