Ranchi: Seven of the 33 Indian labourers stuck in Mali have returned to India on Saturday. The labourers originally from Hazaribagh and Giridih districts of Jharkhand had appealed for help on social media last month after the company that hired them had left them in the lurch in the West African country.
The seven brought back have been identified as Dilip Kumar, Chhedilal Mahto, Santosh Mahto, Lalmani Mahto, Indradev Thakur, Loknath Mahto, and Indradev Prasad. The counsellor of the Jharkhand State Migrant Control Room, Roshni Hansda said that "on February 6, the second batch of labourers would leave for Jharkhand from Bamako in Mali. "As there are few flights from Mali to India, the labourers will be brought back home gradually. The company also agreed to release their pending salaries," he said.
Following the labourers' appeal, the Labour Ministry had intervened with the company that agreed to pay the labourers the salary for October and November 2021. The contractor who had hired the labourers had taken their passports upon their arrival in Mali and had left them with no money to eat and no way to return to India. This caused a lot of trouble to the workers who released a video on social media stating their problems and requested the state and central government to bring them home. The 33 labourers were working as fitters at Kalpataru Power Transmission Limited.
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The company had agreed to pay a salary of Rs 29,725 per month to these labourers. The contractor, however, returned to India and the labourers were not being paid their dues. The State Migrant Control Room promptly took action and spoke to the head of the company stating that the government will not tolerate any ill-treatment meted out to the labourers. The government contacted the Indian Embassy in Mali which further took up the issue with the country head and manager of the company.
