Centre for migrant workers opened in Odisha's Kendrapara

Kendrapara Collector Samarth Verma said the authorities will provide all assistance to the workers once they apprise them of issues at their workplace through the helplines.

KENDRAPARA: Minister of Labour and ESI Susant Singh on Tuesday inaugurated a Migration Support Resource Centre (MSRC) here to assist plumbers and other migrant workers of the district.

The Minister also launched three helpline numbers for the workers. While toll-free phone number 155368 is meant for workers of the district working within Odisha, toll-free number 18003456703 is for workers engaged in other parts of the country.

Similarly, toll-free phone number 18003456703 is meant for those working in other countries.

Kendrapara Collector Samarth Verma said the authorities will provide all assistance to the workers once they apprise them of issues at their workplace through the helplines.

“We will prepare a database of workers from the district with the help of district labour office, panchayat bodies, NGOs and other Government agencies within one year,” he said.

Around 80,000 plumbers from Pattamundai, Aul, Rajnagar and Rajkanika blocks of the district work as plumbers in the country and abroad.

“They are often exploited by middlemen, contractors, builders and others at their workplaces and the database and helpline will help them apprise us of their problems,” the Collector said.

Jagajiban Das, a trade union leader said the helplines would help plumbers from the district.

“There is hardly any village in Rajnagar, Aul, Rajnkanika and Pattamundai blocks of the district that does not have any plumbers working outside the State and country. The plumbers of Kendrapara district have been dominating the sanitary business both in India and abroad for decades. Stories of plumbers of Kendrapada returning to their villages after a decade with a  lot of money abound,” he said.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by Kendrapara MLA Sashi Bhusan Behera, Rajnagar MLA Dhruba  Sahoo, Aul MLA Pratap Deb and others.

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