September 24, 2025
BHUBANESWAR – At least 289 Odisha migrant workers who left the State in search of livelihood were reported dead at their workplaces in the last five years, with an average annual death toll of 60, the state government told the Assembly on Tuesday.
The current year reported the death of 82 workers till August last, while 120 migrant labourers died in 2024. 87 deaths were reported in 2021, 2022 and 2023, Labour Minister Ganesh Ram Singh Khuntia.
Ganjam district, infamous for large-scale interstate migration of workforces mainly to Gujarat, accounted for the maximum death at 48, followed by Bolangir (32), Kalahandi (26), Rayagada (23) and Kandhamal (19).
Similarly, 5,613 migrant workers have been rescued in distressed condition from their workplaces, mainly brick kilns, in the last five years. Around 86,000 people migrated to different parts of the country to seek viable employment through 1,254 labour contractors provided license by the Government.
Contrary to the government’s claim, the magnitude of exodus of skilled and unskilled labourers to other parts of the country is on a much larger scale.
Rights activists conservatively estimate the interstate labour migration figure at 10 lakh. About three lakh people including women and minor children from six to seven western Odisha districts work in brick kilns. These seasonal migrant workers usually return in the months of May and June.
The migrant labourers from Ganjam, Bhadrak, Balangir and Bargarh districts are found working in spinning mills of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Besides, plumbers from Kendrapara district migrated all over the state and overseas, also as plumbing dexterity of these skilled workforces provides them handsome wages.
Instances of migrant labourers trapped in exploitative practices by employers hog the spotlight at regular intervals.
The Odisha Government has initiated major steps to combat exploitative advance payment systems of migrant workers, regulating informal recruitment chains, creating awareness for informed migration, strengthening skill development linkages, and working towards inter-state portability of services, said officials.
As many as 14 out of 30 districts have been identified as labour-migration-hit pockets and migrant labour help desks have been set up in multiple locations. A district-level emergency relief fund of Rs 15 lakhs each has been created to assist the migrant workforces, concluded the officials.