Labour minister Bijayashree Routray

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 18: The state government is contemplating amendments to the labour law to deal with issues relating to migrant labourers.

This was mooted in the wake of two labourers of Kalahandi being hospitalised after a labour contractor had allegedly chopped off their palms.

Labour minister Bijayashree Routray today said that the existing law was not sufficient to deal with issues related to migrant labourers.

“Stringent measures are needed to curb such incidents. The incident was barbaric. But, the accused persons have been identified. Both the victims are being treated at the Veer Surendra Sai (VSS) Medical College and Hospital in Burla and their medical expenses would be borne by the state government,” the labour minister said.

The minister said that the amendments being contemplated to the law would ensure that migrant labourers were hired by registered labour contractors.

“They will have to furnish details of the labourers, along with their photographs and consent. This will enable the state government to have a database which can be given to other state labour departments when the labourers go outside the state,” said Routray.

The state government officials also said that both of them were entitled to get compensation to the tune of Rs 4 lakh each.

Kalahandi police today arrested one of the accused persons. The police said that one of the two middlemen involved in hiring the victims was arrested from the district.

“Further investigations are on to nab the contractor, the main accused in the incident and the second middleman,” said Kalahandi police superintendent Sarthak Sarangi.

On the other hand, social activists in Kalahandi district alleged negligence on part of the police today as the police did not act after the family members had gone to Jaipatna police station on December 14 to lodge a complaint against the contractor, who had allegedly abducted them. The incident had taken place on the night of December 15.

A two-member team, including the district labour officer of Kalahandi, today made a visit to the spot.

“We are waiting for their report and further course of action would be initiated after getting the fact-finding report,” said assistant labour commissioner P.K. Baliarsingh.

The two injured labourers were among the 12 persons hired by the accused from various villages of Kalahandi by paying each Rs 14,000 for work in a brick kiln in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

But when the contractor forcefully took away all of them to Raipur in Chhattisgarh, 10 of them managed to escape, leaving the two victims to face the wrath of the contractor, who chopped off their right palms with an axe.