DIBRUGARH, June 9: Seven youths from Assam’s Mising community were rescued from a construction site in Arunachal Pradesh after allegedly being subjected to starvation, physical abuse and inhuman working conditions, community organisations said on Tuesday.

The youths, all from the Sadiya subdivision in Assam’s Tinsukia district, had travelled to Arunachal Pradesh in search of work but reportedly found themselves trapped at a construction site linked to the Lower Dibang Hydroelectric Project in Roing.

The rescue operation was carried out on Monday by members of the Sadiya district committee of the Takam Mising Porin Kebang (TMPK) and the Mising Mimag Kebang (MMK) after distress calls from the workers and their families.

According to TMPK, the youths from the Amarpur area had been recruited through local middlemen with promises of employment and were taken to the site by a person identified as Nigam Doley.

The workers alleged that they were denied food, prevented from leaving the site and subjected to intimidation and violence.
“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,” one of the rescued workers said.

Community leaders described the conditions as inhuman and said the intervention became necessary after reports emerged that the workers were being held under coercive circumstances.

The incident has raised fresh concerns over the exploitation of migrant labourers from remote areas of Assam, particularly youths recruited through informal labour networks for projects outside the state.

The rescued workers have since been brought back to safety, while community organisations are demanding an investigation into the circumstances under which they were recruited and allegedly mistreated at the work site.