Farhana Ahmed reports on the horrific ordeal of workers from the Indian state of Assam who were lured by traffickers and trapped in a Border Roads project camp, from which, only a few could escape with their lives. Ahmed was a participant in CRG and Commonwelth Journalists’ Association- India‘s collaborative workshop “Climate Change, Disaster, Displacement and the Role of Media”, organised in Kolkata, India on 24- 25 August, 2022.
The monotony of jobless youth sitting idly on a rainy day of May 30, 2022 when entire Assam was reeling under flood due to abnormal early monsoon, turned out to a sudden rush of activities in the village of Malgaon-Bagulawra in Kokrajhar district when one Rezaul Karim from neighbouring Abhayapuri of Bongaigaon district visited them. Rezaul was in search of workers for jobs in West Bengal with higher wages. Soon a group of seven youths from the village—Kalimuddin Seikh, Manowar Hussain, Mazidul Ali, Farizul Haq, Abul Hussain, Samiul Seikh and Ainul Haq accompanied Reazul for their new destination.
This group was joined by thirteen more from Manikpur in Bongaingaon district, also arranged by Rezaul for West Bengal. But no one from the group had the idea that their journey to West Bengal was actually a part of a business of slave trading. The whole team of twenty people were transported to another unknown place by two more persons: Roham Ali and Abdul Quddus, besides Reazul. Instead of taking the group to West Bengal, they took them to a remote corner of Arunachal Pradesh on the Indo-China border where large infrastructure works are on.
Captivity and forced labour:
“On June 2, 2022, I received a distress call from one worker from Itanagar. He requested me to transfer some money so that they could return home as they were reluctant to move further deep onto the hills”, recalls Johirul Islam, a local leader of Sadou Asom Gariya Maria Desi Parichad. “He informed me that the workers were to be forcefully taken to Koloriang in Kurung Kumey district which was far away from Itanagar. However our conversation was overheard by Rezaul and he snatched all of their mobile phones and took them to Koloriang”, says Johirul.
After almost a month Johirul received Whatsapp messages from the same worker from a place called Huri in Kurung Kamey district. The worker used wi-fi network from a BRO post to connect with Assam as the entire area has no mobile network. That Whatsapp call narrated how the entire group of workers from Assam was taken by Reazul first to Koroliang, then to Damin and finally to Huri for construction of a road project by BRO.
Situated at 1040 meters above the sea level and 257 kms away from capital Itanagar, Koroliang is the district headquarters of Kurung Kamey district in Arunachal Pradesh and Huri is 170 km north of Koloriang. Huri, the last Indian village is 100 km away from the Chinese border.
Rezaul and Roham handed over the group of workers to one Bengiya Bado, the Border Roads Organization (BRO) contractor for Damin to Huri road project.
On July 2, 2022 Johirul Islam in Bilasipara, Assam was again Whatsapped by a worker from Huri informing that Rezaul and Roham Ali had left their camp. On the next day there was another Whatsapp message saying the workers were willing to return home for Eid.
“The workers at Huri were told by Bengia Teni, the in-charge of the camp that they (workers) could not leave before the completion of the project as Rezaul had sold them to the contractor for Rs. 20 lakhs”, says Johirul quoting the Whatsapp messages. The camp in-charge also fired blank shots to threaten the workers to stay and forced them to continue their work.
The Escape:
Thus after forced to labour for more than a month under captivity and being sold by traffickers, 19 workers from Assam in the Huri camp decided to escape on the night of July 3, 2022—hoping to reach Itanagar in three days trekking the hills. Abdul Amin, Manowar Hussain, Mazidul Ali, Shamijul Seikh, Kalimuddin Sheikh, Abul Hussain, Ainal Haque, Farizul Haque, Wajid Ali, Hikmat Ali, Rustom Ali, Abdul Amin, Khairul Islam, Nurul Islam, Ibrahim Ali, Hamidul Haque, Maijul Haque, Jainal Ali and Imamul Hassan—all took an arduous journey for freedom without any navigation tools stepping in an inhospitable terrain full of venomous snakes.
Majidul (29) was one of the seven workers who trekked for eight days from Huri and got lost in the dense forest. On the ninth day, three of the group—Kalimuddin (27), Samijul (19) and Abul Hussain (40) could not move due to fatigue and weakness.
“After a day another member of our group Farijul died due to overnight drenching in rain in the jungle”, recounts Majidul on their horrific ordeal. Next day Ainul Haque (22), another companion too could not walk any more.
“We left him under the shed of a banana leaf inside the jungle”, recounts Majidul.
“We walked in dense jungles, crossed high current rivers, ate wild bananas and its shoots for days and night under the rain”, said Jainal Ali, an “escapee” from Bhakuwamari village in Baksa district of Assam.
It was only on July, 13, 2022, more than a week after that the world came to know about the “escape” of the forced labours from Arunachal Pradesh when the BRO contractor Bengia Tado informed the police about their disappearance. Bengiya in a press meet also defended his stand of not allowing the workers to visit their homes for Eid. “There is provision for celebration of all religious festivals on the camp hence no one needs to visit home”, said Bengiya in a press meet.
By July 23, 2022, ten of the 19 workers were rescued by the police and district administration of Kurum Kumey with the help of IAF choppers, SDRF and villagers. By July 28, five bodies of the workers were recovered from steep and deep, dense forest between Huri and Tapa areas of the district in decomposed conditions. They were identified as Farijul Haque (23), Maijul Haque (28), Rustom Ali (40) and Abul Hussain (40). According to the rescued workers, Wajid Ali, another worker was left in the jungle by his fellow escapees as he was too weak to move after a long trek without food. Earlier, Hikmat Ali (45) died first as he was drowned in Furak river. His body is yet to be found. Others that could not make it were Nurul Islam (28), Sahidul Islam (22), Ainul Haque (22) and Bazed Ali (26). A rescued worker Kalimuddin Sheikh (27) later died on August 10, after reaching his home.
Trafficking of workers from Assam to Arunachal Pradesh:
The entire “escape” is the latest revelation of unabated forced labour and slavery in Arunachal Pradesh. Massive infrastructural developmental works in the remote and inhospitable terrains in the border state have been on at the cost of trafficked of persons from the marginalized communities of neighbouring Assam. Contractors of the construction projects in Arunachal Pradesh collect workers from Assam through traffickers acting as labour contractors who lure the poor and vulnerable communities from the state promising better wages. Once the workers are transported to the project sites located in remote high altitude terrain, there is no hope of return.
Trafficker Rezaul Karim from Abhayapuri of Bongaingaon district in Assam took the 19 “escapees” workers to Banderdewa and handed over them to Roham Ali and Quddus Ali from Lakhimpur district. Roham and Quddus took the workers to Kurung Kumey district in Arunachal Pradesh after arranging Inner Line Permit (ILP) passes for them. It was Roham Ali who left the workers in Damin without informing them after being paid by Bengia Tado, the BRO contractor. The ILPs were issued for M/s B.B. Enterprise, Koloriang in Kurung Kumey district of Arunachal Pradesh. This company is owned by Bengia Tado, the BRO contractor.
“Reazul and Roham sold us to Bengia Tado who did not let us to return on Eid. After a month’s hard labour in a remote area there was no option for us but to flee from their capitivity”, says Mujidul Ali after reaching his village Malgaon in Kokrajhar district of Assam.
The law is unable to deliver:
“All that are responsible for our plight must be punished by law”, demands Mujidul Ali.
Family members of the trafficked men filed an FIR against Rezaul Karim at Kokrajhar Police station on July 9. Similar cases have already been filed by the victim’s families at Bongaingaon, Baksa and Barpeta districts of Assam. However police is yet to arrest Rezaul who hails from Hira Para, Lalmati in Abhayapuri of Bongaingaon district of Assam. Arunachal Pradesh Police while denying forced labour in the state, has arrested Bengia Tani, the in-charge of the worker’s camp at Huri and the trafficker Roham Ali. The Deputy Commissioner of Kurung Kumey Bengia, who oversaw the rescue operation of the missing workers, said that it was beyond his jurisdiction to initiate actions against BRO contractor Bengia Tado.
Even the overstay of the workers from Assam after the validity of the ILP pass is also overlooked by the administration in Arunachal Pradesh. The two ILPs with No. DMK/JUD-01/2022-23/-3172 and DMK/JUD-01/2022-23/-3179, dated 30/05/2022, issued by the Sub Divisional Officer, Doimukh at Papum Pare district of Arunachal Pradesh was valid for fifteen days with effect from 30/05/2022 to 14/06/2022. This clearly states that when the workers wanted to return home in July 3 for the Eid, their ILP passes had already expired.
The Sadou Asom Gariya Maria Desi Parichad, a Muslim organization from Assam demanded a compensation of Rs. 5 lakhs each for the victims of this trafficking and forced labour.
As climate induced calamities like flood and river bank erosion has shrinking the livelihood options of the socially marginalized communities in the plains of Assam, the lure for jobs with a good wage and food is an opportunity to grab for many jobless youths. They are preyed upon by traffickers like Reazul Karim and Roham Ali to be sold as slaves to contractors engaged in infrastructure projects inside Arunachal Pradesh. The border state has also the dubious distinction of keeping trafficked girl child as slaves from marginalized communities from neighbouring Assam.
Farhana Ahmed is a journalist, documentary film maker and anti-trafficking activist based in North Lakhimpur. Farhana may be reached at farhana.ahmed777@gmail.com.
Refugee Watch Online 
Leave a comment