SC pulls up Orissa over plight of migrant labourers

“What kind of a country we are living in? This has not happened in the most of the primitive time and world,” remarked the bench, adding that there was a need for effective steps to prevent such incidents, including exploitation of women, and that “law enforcing agencies cannot be turning blind eyes”.

The court, which had taken a suo motu cognizance of media reports on the December 2013 incident, issued a slew of directives and asked Orissa and Andhra governments to file reports on status of such labourers, besides spelling out the steps taken by them to check such incidents.

The bench was told that people from poverty-ridden six West Orissa districts of Koraput, Bolangir, Kalahandi, Baragarh, Nuaparda and Malkangiri are the victims of such exploitation, many of whom are working in the brick kilns in neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh and now in some districts like Ranga Reddy in Telangana.

The bench, which was not satisfied with the steps taken by the Orissa government, said it was the need of the hour to restore the dignity of people working as migrant labourers in brick kilns.

According to the media report, the incident had occurred near a jungle in Belpada village in Kalahandi district of Orissa when the two labourers were being taken back to their homes to recover the money paid to them in advance. On the way back, the contractor and his accomplice got drunk and chopped off the right hands of the two workers.