Roing/Sadiya, June 9:
Seven Mising youths from Assam's Sadiya subdivision were rescued from a construction site in Arunachal Pradesh after allegedly enduring physical abuse, starvation, and inhuman working conditions. The rescue operation was conducted on Monday by members of the Sadiya district units of the Takam Mising Porin Kebang (TMPK) and the Mising Mimag Kebang (MMK) following distress calls from the workers and their families.
According to TMPK, the youths from the Amarpur area had been lured by local middlemen with promises of employment and were later engaged under a contractor at a culvert construction site linked to the Lower Dibang Hydroelectric Project in Roing.
One of the rescued workers alleged that they had been taken to the site by an individual identified as Nigam Doley and subjected to repeated abuse. “We had not been given anything to eat for two days. When we tried to leave and return home in search of food, some people stopped us, took us back, and assaulted us. We were threatened with machetes and forced to continue working day and night,” he claimed, alleging that the workers were denied basic necessities and prevented from leaving the site.
Members of the rescue team claimed they found visible injury marks on several workers, allegedly caused by repeated beatings, including assaults with iron rods. TMPK Sadiya district president Binod Dao said the organisation rushed to the site immediately after receiving information and found workers being forcefully engaged in labour despite having gone without food for two days. He alleged that the workers were being kept in deplorable conditions and accused a section of contractors of exploiting unemployed youths by luring them with promises of financial security before sending them to work sites in Arunachal Pradesh.
TMPK stated that it spent nearly ₹60,000 to bring the seven workers back home safely and has launched efforts to identify and trace the contractors and intermediaries allegedly involved in recruiting and transporting the youths.
Another member of the organisation alleged that labourers from Assam are routinely subjected to exploitation at certain work sites in Arunachal Pradesh and called for stricter oversight of recruitment practices and working conditions. Authorities had not issued an official statement on the allegations at the time of filing this report.
