Balangir: For thousands of people of the district, Nuakhai, the famous harvest festival of west Odisha, marks the beginning of the migration season.

For the past few days, labour contractors had been camping in the rural pockets of Balangir to woo the villagers in their favour by paying some advance to meet their Nuakhai expenses just ahead of the festival. They paid between Rs 500 and Rs 1,500 per family to attract them in their favour.

The exodus of people from this area has begun after the Nuakhai festival on Friday. They migrate to big cities such as Hyderabad, Mumbai and Nagpur to work in brick kilns and construction sites.

Thabira Singh Beriha of Badbanki village in Turekela block had received Rs 1,000 to meet his Nuakhai expense from a labour contractor.

In exchange, he agreed to work in a brick kiln near Hyderabad.

"The contractor would pay another Rs 10,000 as advance to work in a brick kiln near Hyderabad. Since the agriculture season is over, there is hardly any work available for us here. Moreover, the availability of government works is almost non-existent at our village. So, we have to leave our village to earn our livelihood elsewhere," he said.

Pabitra Majhi of Turekela is another villager, who is ready to migrate with his wife and two children to a brick kiln site in Hyderabad. "I hope that the contractor will give me a handsome advance this time. As Nuakhai is over, we are getting ready to leave with him where he takes us," he said.

Labour agents are now active in the Kantabanji area of the district, which has gained notoriety for distress migration because of the lack of employment avenues, drought, absence of food security and other such issues.

The maximum number of such labourers are from Turekela, Bangomunda, Muribahal, Khaprakhol, Titilagarh, Saintala and Belpara areas of Balangir district.

Trilochan Punji, an activist of the Shramik Adhikar Manch, a Balangir-based rights organisation, said the poor labourers represented the sorry state of affairs in Balangir, where distress migration had become a norm.

"Thousands of families migrate outside the state in search of work because of the lack of avenues at home after Nuakhai, the popular festival of west Odisha. Labourers, who received advance from the labour contractors, already started migrating," Punji said.

"Every year, cases of human rights violation are coming to our notice from brick kilns and construction sites," he said. Over a lakh people from the district are migrating every year.