Desperate Calls from Cameroon: 19 Jharkhand Migrants Await Rescue

Ranchi – In a distressing situation, 19 men from Jharkhand’s Bokaro and Hazaribagh districts are stranded in Cameroon, West Africa, without pay for four months and with little access to food, water, or medical aid.

The workers had been recruited through a private agency to work on electricity transmission projects. What was promised as a decent job opportunity has turned into a nightmare. In videos posted online, they plead with the central and state governments for immediate help. “We depend on handouts to survive. If someone gets sick, there’s nothing we can do,” one man says.

The list of stranded workers includes eight from Bokaro — Prem Tudu, Sibon Tudu, Somar Besra, Puran Tudu, Ramji Hansada, Virwa Hansda, Mahendra Hansda, and Bablu Soren — and eleven from Hazaribagh — Aghnu Soren, Ashok Soren, Chetlal Soren, Mahesh Marandi, Ramji Marandi, Lalchand Murmu, Phoolchand Murmu, Budhan Murmu, Jiblal Manjhi, Chhotan Baske, and Rajendra Kisku.

Social activist Sikandar Ali has called for urgent diplomatic action to bring the men home, warning that such cases are far too common. He pointed out that several Jharkhand labourers have previously faced exploitation abroad, and that repatriation often requires long negotiations.

Ali also stressed that unless Jharkhand creates more jobs locally, labourers will continue to take dangerous risks in foreign lands.

Just months ago, five migrant workers from Jharkhand were kidnapped in Niger, another West African nation — their whereabouts remain unknown.

With inputs from IANS