97 migrant labourers rescued from Odisha’s Khariar railway station

Nuapada: As many as 97 migrant labourers including 29 women and 22 children were rescued by police following a raid at Khariar railway station in Nuapada district today.

The migrant labourers were waiting for a train going to Hyderabad at the railway station. Acting on a tip-off, police raided the station’s waiting room and rescued them.

The middlemen, who had lured the migrant labourers with attractive wages to work in Hyderabad and brought them from different parts of Bolangir and Nuapada districts, managed to escape during the raid.

Moreover, police were unable to get any clue about the middlemen as the migrant labourers did not elicit any details on how they were brought to Khariar railway station during questioning. Later police sent the migrant labourers back to their homes.

Instances of migrant labourers going outside the State from Nuapada, Kalahandi and Bolangir districts in search of work have been a quite common phenomenon in recent past. Police rescued some of them earlier, but mostly many go outside the State with the help of middlemen in search of work.