Jharkhand tribals flee GREF road project alleging ‘torture’

2 OUT OF 34 LABOURERS ESCAPE TO JHARKHAND, LODGE COMPLAINT THERE
GANGTOK, 04 April: Two Scheduled Tribe labourers from Jharkand who fled Sikkim recently, have complained to the police there that they were exploited and not paid for more than a month by their employer while engaged in road construction work here. The two hail from Dumka in Jharkhand and were part of a road-gang of 34 reportedly engaged by GREF on road works here. The Dumka Superintendent of Police, when contacted by NOW! confirmed the complaint which was first reported in a section of the national media.
The duo reportedly escaped from Sikkim on 12 March. As per media reports, a person by the name of “Hembrom” had been tasked [reportedly by GREF] to supply labourers for road construction projects here in Sikkim.
The two labourers who escaped - Dilip Murmu and Hopna Soren – have also claimed that they were denied their wages.
The escaped labourers have lodged a complaint with the Dumka SP, Hemant Toppo, to whom they have also alleged that they were “made to work at gunpoint and also thrashed by the contractor’s men”.
The escaped duo, both belonging to Bisriyam village in Dumka district, also reportedly handed over the copy of a letter apparently sent by General Reserve and Engineering Force (GREF) to Hembrom. However, the two could not even say where in Sikkim they were working. The SP has been requested to rescue the other labourers from the group still in Sikkim where, as per the escaped duo, they continue to suffer similar privations.
The letter does not bear the signature of any GREF official. However, it asks one Mukhtar Hembrom to supply 50 labourers to work under it in Sikkim.
Talking to NOW! over the phone, SP Dumka, Mr. Toppo confirmed that he had received such a complaint a few days ago.
“Yes we have received a complaint and are currently enquiring into it. We have also written to the company which had taken these labourers to respond to the allegations. If we do not receive a satisfactory answer from the company then we will lodge an FIR,” SP Toppo said.
He further stated that the two had managed to contact the other labourers who reported that they were alright.
“However, their location is still not known and we are trying to ascertain where they were engaged from the complainants,” the Dumka SP adds. Once the location is known the Sikkim Police will be contacted, he said.
It is reported that as many as 34 labourers, between 18 to 40 years of age, and natives of Raneswar block of the Dumka district in Jharkhand, were taken by one Mukhtar Hembrom of Dhebadih village in neighbouring Shikaripara to work in Sikkim in January where they started work on 28 January. One of the complainants, Dilip Murmu, has been quoted in media reports as informing that Hembrom had promised that GREF would pay them Rs. 17,000 each for three months of work, apart from free lodging and food.
He added that before escaping from Sikkim, the duo promised the rest of the labourers that they would return with enough money to bring them back to Dumka as well.
Sujan Soren, brother of a labourer in Sikkim, said, “The contractor, on learning about the escape of two labourers, took the rest of them to an unidentified location.” He further alleged that he received a phone call from his brother saying they were being continually tortured.
“We have collected sufficient money from the kin of the labourers, but we are clueless about how to ensure their safe release, as we have no idea of their whereabouts,” said Kandan Murmu, whose sons Sanatan and Shyamlal are in Sikkim.
The SP said he would investigate the matter and bring those guilty to book if there was any evidence of the local men being forced into bonded labour.
“According to a letter, GREF entrusted Mukhtar Hembrom with supplying 50 labourers from Dumka,” he said, adding the police would probe whether GREF was involved in any foul play.
DIG Range, Sikkim Police, Vineet Vinayak, when contacted, stated that he had not received any formal or informal complaint as yet but in the event that a complaint was made, he would definitely look into it.