151 BALANGIR
BONDED LABOUR PLANS NOT EXECUTED SINCE 2011
Monday, 20 October 2014 | SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar
1
Survey also not undertaken due to
fund crunch
Even as the State Government claims to be taking adequate steps to
ameliorate the condition of migrant and bonded labourers, the performance of
the Panchyati Raj department is poor in this regard.
As per the Bonded Labour System (Abolitions) Act1976, a person who is
released as bonded labourer is given a release certificate and immediate
assistance of `1,000. He is given another `19,000 for his livelihood
assistance. The block authorities prepare a livelihood assistance plan for him
and send it to the DRDA which is forwarded to the Panchyati Raj department for
release of money.
According to reports, livelihood plans of bonded labourers sent by
Balangir district administration for release of the financial assistance have
been gathering dust since 2011 in the Panchyati Raj department in Bhubneshwar.
“We have sent livelihood plans of 151 bonded labourers of Balangir district
since 2011 and they have been lying there,” said an official here.
Not that the proposals of bonded labourers are neglected at the
State-level only. In the block level also they undergo the same fate. A total
of 195 proposals of bonded labourers are lying with the BDOs for months. The
BDOs have not submitted the livelihood plans to the District Rural Development
Agency (DRDA), pointed out an official.
According to sources, the number of livelihood plans /proposals of
bonded labourers blocked at the BDO level are Bongomunda(11), Tureikela(6),
Belpada(56), Khaprakhol(14), Muribahal(28), Balangir (37), Loisingha(14),
Saintala (4) and Patnagarh(23).
Moreover, paucity of funds has affected the survey of bonded labourer
work in the district. Once a single bonded labourer is found in a district, a
detailed survey should be undertaken to detect them further. A district is
allotted `2 lakh for the survey. In a letter to the Chief Minister on August 26
last, Balangir MP Kalikesh Singh Deo sought to know about the status of bonded
labourers in Odisha and the survey undertaken by the State Government to
identify them.
“We have sent our proposal to carry out a survey of bonded labourers in
Balangir district. But due to non-sanctioning of funds by the Government, we
have not started the survey,” disclosed an official here.
A total of 215 bonded labourers were given financial assistance in
Balangir district in 2011, informed the official further. The labourers
released under Bonded Labour (Systems) Abolition Act 1976 should be given
prompt assistance and their livelihood plans should receive top priority. At
the same time, the released bonded labourer should be linked with other social
security schemes of Government. If possible the amount of assistance should be
hiked to `40,000 from the present `20,000, said an activist here.
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