Left parties urge Centre to rescue TN workers in Myanmar

CHENNAI: Left parties have urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take immediate steps to rescue workers hailing from Tamil Nadu who were duped on the pretext of job offers and forced into bonded labour in Myanmar.

After promising job opportunities in Thailand, Tamil Nadu workers were taken by unscrupulous elements to Myawaddy in Myanmar and forced into bonded labour there, CPI state secretary R Mutharasan said in a statement.

He said such workers faced torture in Myanmar and their families back home are distressed. Steps should be taken on a war footing by the Union government to bring them back home, he urged Modi.

Also, the Centre should provide them with domestic job opportunities. He alleged that workers faced the agony of seeking employment abroad as the BJP-led Centre has deceived the people on its promise of providing 2 crore job opportunities every year.

In a tweet, CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan demanded the Union government and External Affairs Ministry should act quickly and bring out the details related to the youth trapped in Myanmar. “We urge the government to rescue at-risk youth and the regulating the recruitment agencies for foreign jobs, ” he said.

He said that shocking news has come out about the Indian youths who went to Thailand in search of work, being kidnapped to the city of Myawaddy in Myanmar and forced to engage in illegal work.

“India is facing unprecedented unemployment. A large number of well-educated youths try to do some work to support their families. Taking advantage of this situation, the 'agents' who advertise jobs abroad have taken them to Thailand from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, saying that they offer 'computer input work' and good salaries. However, they were abducted to an area called Myawaddy in Myanmar where they were kept and forced to do illegal work and beaten,” he said.