Arunachal: Kurung Kamey admin seeks NDRF, IAF’s assistance to locate missing workers

The Kurung Kumey administration has requested the assistance of the NDRF and the Indian Air Force in an effort to locate and rescue the missing 19 workers.

In an exclusive conversation with Northeast Live correspondent Ripunjoy Das, Kurung Kumey DC Nighee Bengia said that the administration has now decided to take the assistance of the NDRF and also roll in IAF choppers to locate the missing persons.

Further, the DC also informed that the main contractor Bengia Bado has also been detained by the local police and is currently being interrogated.

It may be mentioned here that the 19 workers from Assam are missing for the past 15 days from a remote road construction site in Arunachal Pradesh after their contractor did not pay them their dues for more than a month since they began working.

This sensational claim has been made by their fellow workers in a video accessed by Northeast Live. The workers went missing from a heavily forested area in Kurung Kumey district on July 5 with the police having no clue about their whereabouts.

The area has no internet connectivity which is hampering search operations. Currently, the authorities are engaging the SDRF in the search operations.

Narrating about the incident, Abdul Malik, one of the fellow workers said the sub-contractor who brought him and his colleagues had made false promises of paying them their dues when in reality, it never happened. Abdul further stated that both the police as well as the villagers are looking for the missing workers.

Abdul further stated that the workers were in great distress. They were supposed to return to their respective homes after a month but were not allowed.

Instead, the contractor had left the area without even paying the workers. Abdul added that on July 15, the workers fled to the jungle, and after they could not be traced, he and his fellow workers approached the police for help.

Notably, the labourers were engaged by the BRO in road construction in Huri under the Damin circle. The workers who were brought to the construction site at Huri village in Kurung Kamey by 2 sub-contractors namely Ruham Ali and Adbul Kudus on June 6, left the camp on the night of July 5. Of the two sub-contractors, 14 are missing from one, while 5 are missing from the other.

The missing persons have been identified as Khairul Islam, Moijul Haq of Barpeta, Sonar Uddin of Kamrup, Jaynal Ali, Rustam Ali, and Hikmati Ali of Baksa. Others have been identified as Swahidul Islam, Amidul Haq, Ibrahim Ali, Abdul Amin, and Nurul Islam.