5 Jharkhand migrants ''denied'' wages in Cameroon, seek govt help for return

Ranchi, Nov 24 (PTI) Five migrant workers from Jharkhand working in a company in Cameroon have allegedly been denied wages for several months and have requested the state government to facilitate their return, officials said on Monday.

They had shared a video pleading for a return to their homeland with a social activist Sikander Ali, who had brought the matter before the government on Saturday, they said.

“We have sought the documents of the five migrants and are taking up the issue with the Indian Embassy in Cameroon to arrange for their safe return,” said Shikha Lakra, team leader of the State Migrant Control Room, which functions under Jharkhand’s labour department.

They had been hired by a Mumbai-based multinational private company to lay power transmission lines in the central African country, and the migrants alleged that they had not been paid salaries for the last five months.

Ali, who brought the matter before the state labour department, said that the migrants in the video clip have claimed that "denial of salaries has led them to face difficulties with accommodation and food".

“They have appealed to the government for help. I have urged the government to act in the interests of the workers stranded abroad,” Ali said.

Four of the five stranded workers hail from Vishnugarh area in Hazaribagh district, and one from Dumri in Giridih, he said. PTI ANB BDC