BHUBANESWAR: Following a meeting of
around 5000 brick kiln workers of Western Odisha held in Balangir district on Wednesday,
a delegation of the workers handed over a memorandum to the State Government
here on Thursday highlighting their various demands.
The members of the Shramik Adhikar
Manch and the Jan Jagran Daadan Sangh alleged that the State Government failed
to address their problems properly due to which they are exploited by the
labour contractors.
Before submitting the memorandum,
the members said in a Press meet here that around three lakh workers migrate
every year from Balangir, Bargarh, Nuapada, Boudh, Sonpur and Kalahandi
district. Workers are recruited against monetary advance by local labour
contractors, who traffic them to far-off location across the south India States,
said the members.
The members also alleged that the
workers work for 12-16 hours a day to earn enough to eat in the brick kilns
with their children.
“The State Government failed to
keep data or any information of brick kiln workers working in the south Indian
States. The State is totally in dark about the condition of the workers and
even does not have any assessment regarding the cause of their migration,” said
Lok Shakti Abhiyan president Prafulla Samantara.
As the villagers are not getting
proper wage and work in time from the MGNREGA scheme, they prefer to migrate
other States in search of jobs, Samantara added.
In their 14-point charter of
demands, the members urged the State Government for proper implementation of
MGNREGA, distribution of land to the landless, effective implementation of the Forrest
Rights Act, speedy rehabilitation of bonded labourers released in other States
and other labour welfare facilities in the States where the Odia brick kiln
workers are workings.
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