MP moves CM for policy to combat labour trafficking

Berhampur: Pradeep Kumar Panigrahy, MP (Berhampur), on Saturday urged the chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi for his intervention for formulation of a comprehensive policy framework to combat labour trafficking and exploitation and to ensure “safe migration protocol” to maintain dignity of workers at their work places.

Referring to the recent incident of physical and mental torture and exploitation of three migrant labourers of from Ganjam district’s Digapahandi area in Tamil Nadu, Panigrahy in a letter to chief minister said it revealed the vulnerabilities of our migrant labourers. The middlemn lure them with false promises, he said referring to the ordeal of victims from Laxmi Narayanpur village.


He also referred to the news published in TOI on Saturday and praised Berhampur police for rescuing the victims with the help of their Tamil Nadu counterparts and to arrest the middlemen.

To prevent such “distress migration” and protect the dignity of the workforce, Panigrahy suggested the introduction of a digital migration tracking system (DMTS), where every migrant worker and their contractor must register before leaving the district. This data should be accessible at both home and labour departments.

He said sarpanches should be legally empowered and funded to maintain “migration registrar”. The contractors should be barred from recruiting labourers for trafficking without the knowledge of panchayat and district labour officers, he said.

He suggested introduction of the “Pravasi Suraksha”, a state-sponsored insurance scheme for inter-state migrants to cover accidental injuries or legal aid. A dedicated Odia language helpline should be set up in major industrial hubs outside the state to help the migrant workers. A specialized anti-trafficking cell needs to be formed within Ganjam and Gajapati, the migration-prone districts to monitor railway stations to prevent middlemen from luring youths for trafficking, he said.

Panigrahy stressed the need of acceleration of “Ukrash Odisha” (Make in Odisha) initiatives in south Odisha and provide easy credit to the returnee migrants to start their start-ups and become economically independent.


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