Kendrapada: Allegedly exploited by employers and deceived by agents, four workers from Kendrapada district returned from Thailand on Saturday after more than five months — ending their dream of earning a better living abroad. They vowed never to return.TOI had first reported their plight on Thursday.Six men — five from Kendrapada and one from Bhadrak — had travelled to Thailand in Aug 2025 to work at a plywood company. They later alleged that the employer withheld their wages besides mentally and physically torturing them. Desperate to return home, they appealed to the state govt through social media.Thereafter, coordinated rescue efforts were launched involving the external affairs ministry, the state govt’s chief resident commissioner in New Delhi, the Directorate of Odisha Parivar, the labour & ESIC department, and the Kendrapada and Bhadrak district administrations. “Four workers have now been repatriated; the others will return soon,” said Kendrapada ADM Nabakrishna Jena, adding that the workers expressed gratitude for the timely help.The returnees — Jayant Kumar Mallick, Hemant Kumar Behera, Manoranjan Sahu and Vijay Kumar Swain — who spent over Rs 2 lakh each to secure their jobs in Chon Buri, said they had been cheated by both their employer and agents in India. “We went to Thailand in Aug last year through an agent to work in a plywood unit for a promised monthly salary of Rs 50,000. But we were never paid properly,” said Jayant of Nuagaon under Rajkanika block.“We were told we had to work eight hours but we were forced to work 12-14 hours daily. When we complained to our agents in India, nobody helped. We could finally return only after the state govt intervened,” said Hemant of Katarabania village. “We even sold land and took loans to get a foreign job. But now everything is uncertain. The company owner even confiscated our passports,” added Manoranjan of Kaudiapala.Following chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s intervention, state govt collaborated with the external affairs ministry for the safe return of the four. Odisha Parivar officials said the visas of the remaining two had lapsed, and work is on to apply for fresh visas for them. “They will return soon,” an official added.Several riverside villages in Pattamundai, Aul, Rajkanika and Rajnagar blocks — often called ‘villages of plumbers’ — have nearly 50,000 migrants working across India and abroad, sending crores in remittances every year.With inputs from Diana Sahu in Bhubaneswar
