3-member team heads to TN to rescue 90 girls ‘forced’ to work at mill

Rourkela: A team headed by the deputy director of skill development-cum-employment, Khurda, left for Tamil Nadu on Sunday to enquire into allegations made by the parents of 90 young women from two blocks of Sundargarh district that they are being forced to work at a unit in Tiruppur.The parents have been staging a protest in front of the office of Sundargarh collector for the past six days, demanding the women be brought back home. Sources said the women trained to operate sewing machines in Cuttack. Around 100 women, mostly from Lephripada and Hemgir blocks in Sundargarh subsequently went to work at a fabric mill in Tiruppur in Nov last year. About 10 returned home when they fell ill. Parents of the remaining 90 women, mostly from Lephripada block, alleged they were not informed that their daughters would be sent to Tamil Nadu. They claimed their daughters were taken there without consent and are being forced to work. The aggrieved parents, under the banner of Koshal Samaj, also met the Sundargarh collector and requested that their daughters be brought back. They also recently wrote to chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi over the issue. Subsequently, the Sundargarh collector directed the district skill development-cum-employment officer, Rourkela, to take necessary steps. The three-member team, which also comprises the district skill development-cum-employment officers of Cuttack and Rourkela, will enquire into the allegations and if it is found the women are not happy at their workplace, they will take steps to bring them back. "As the parents are demanding, we will bring them back and hand them over to their parents," said Ramesh Kishan, district skill development-cum-employment officer, Rourkela.