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Jharkhand migrants denied five months' wages in Cameroon, seek urgent government intervention

RANCHI: Five migrant workers from Hazaribagh and Giridih districts of Jharkhand are stranded in Cameroon after not being paid their wages for the past five months. In a video message sent to their families, the workers said they have run out of money and are facing serious difficulties in managing accommodation and food. In the video, the stranded workers described their plight and appealed for their immediate repatriation to India. Speaking to TNIE , one of the migrants said that despite repeated requests, they have been denied their wages by the company they were working for. We have been running from pillar to post to get our hard-earned money. We contacted the company management, they said that the outsource company will pay your wages, and when we asked the outsource company for it, they said that they dont have the money to pay us, asking us to stop the work, said Sunil Mahto, one of the migrants stranded in Cameroon. According to Mahto, after the outsourcing company asked them to stop working on 19 November, they have been sitting idle in a foreign country and struggling for food and accommodation. Mahto said they reached Cameroon in MarchApril for livelihood opportunities but have been denied their wages, which he described as very painful. They had been working for Kalpataru Project International Limited and were hired by the outsourcing firm, Shubhra Engineering Services and Sales Limited, based in Kerala. We were told in India that we will be working from the company, but after reaching there, we found that we have been hired by the outsource company. When we demanded an agreement letter in India, we were told that it will be provided to us only after reaching the site, said Mahto. He added that officials of the outsourcing company are now not picking up their phone calls. Mahto said they were hired to lay power transmission lines in the central African country. When contacted, officials in the State Migrant Control Room said they have sought documents of the five migrants and are taking up the issue with the Indian Embassy in Cameroon to arrange for their safe return. The stranded migrant workers have been identified as Sunil Mahato, Sukar Mahato, Chandrashekhar Kumar and Deelo Mahato, all residents of Bishnugarh (Unchaghana) in Hazaribagh, and Dilchand Mahato, a resident of Dumri in Giridih district. Earlier, as many as 48 workers from Giridih, Bokaro and Hazaribagh districts were stranded in Tunisia for six months under extremely difficult conditions. In a video message on 30 October, those workers had sought help from the Indian government for their safe return. They were finally brought home after government intervention.