Odia Workers Rescued From Sri Lanka Reach Home Safely

Bhubaneswar: It was the happiest moment of their life for the eleven construction workers belonging to Odisha, who were held forcefully by their contractor, when they safely returned to their home state. The workers, sent to Sri Lanka by private agents for construction work were held captive in Colombo by their contractor. All the workers belonged to the Khordha district and were sent to Sri Lanka with the promise of higher wages. They even paid the agents more than 60 thousand rupees each for the jobs. But when they reached Sri Lanka, they found themselves duped and were assigned to a local contractor who exploited them and did not even give them the salary.

They had left for Sri Lanka in November last and were employed in a cement concrete factory. They were forced to work for more than 14 hours daily and sometimes they had to work without food. With the help of some locals they could send a video of their plight to the family members of Odisha and then the district administration took steps to rescue them.

With timely intervention by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the Ministry of External Affairs, all the Odia’s were brought back to Odisha safely. Rajya Sabha member Dr Sasmit Patra, took up the issue with the External Affairs Ministry and helped in early release of the workers.

Timely intervention by CM @Naveen_Odisha and @MEAIndia‘s support has led to successful rescue of 11 Odias stranded in Sri Lanka. Thank Union Minister @DrSJaishankar for the proactive action that ensured all of them were back, safe & sound, in #Odisha. pic.twitter.com/TKRSO05EqA

— CMO Odisha (@CMO_Odisha) January 19, 2020

Odisha – mo parivar, the social wing created by HCM took initiative to rescue them from Srilanka.