‘Didn’t get salaries for 4 months’: An ordeal in Cameroon for Jharkhand workers

A total of 19 workers from Jharkhand had gone to Cameroon in 2023. They worked for Transrail Lighting Ltd. Two of them still remain in Cameroon as the formalities for their release are still being completed, officials said.

The Indian Express reached out to the company, but is yet to receive a statement.

After they allegedly stopped getting their salaries, the 19 workers, who are all from the Santhali Adivasi community, decided to stage a protest. They are from different parts of Bokaro and Hazaribagh districts.

Sibon Tudu, a 29-year-old from Gomia in Bokaro, was among the 17 workers who returned on Monday. He said they had gone abroad on December 28, 2023, on the assurance of earning Rs 30,000 a month, but on arrival, they discovered they would only be paid Rs 24,000.

He accused the company of withholding four months’ salary. “For 12–14 months, we were paid, but then the company stopped payments. We were left without salaries for four months,” he said.

After they allegedly stopped getting their salaries, the 19 workers, who are all from the Santhali Adivasi community, decided to stage a protest.

Problems back home

During this time, workers survived on food provided by the company, but struggled with expenses back at their homes in Jharkhand, Tudu said.

“Back home, it was monsoon season — the time for sowing crops. Without money, farming became difficult. Children’s school fees had to be paid, and if anyone fell sick, expenses increased. We had to take loans from moneylenders at high interest,” he said.

Tudu has four children, two of whom are in private school. He said his family is thousands of rupees in debt. “Many households here are in debt. We managed by borrowing, but interest keeps piling up,” he said.

Bablu Soren (29), who is still stuck in Cameroon, told The Indian Express that he had left home through a local contractor. “For a few months, we got salaries, but since May, our payments have stopped. We protested for nearly four months as wages were not given, even though the company claimed it had already paid the contractor,” he said.

“Accommodation and food were provided, but salaries were irregular. Finally, after pressure, many workers received their pending dues except for one month. Seventeen others have already gone back, but two of us are still here because our passports expired and the renewal process got delayed,” Soren said.

Phulchand Murmu (38) from Hazaribagh, the other of the two still in Cameroon, said, “I am the only earning member in my family, which has three children. We stayed on, hoping to get our wages, but instead we were pushed into protest and delay. Our only wish now is to return home safely.”

Fallout

The workers said their recruitment was facilitated by one Sanjay Kumar Shah and his wife, who are both from Jharkhand.

Shah said his only role was connecting the workers with the company. “We are not agents. I was working with this company in India. An officer who went abroad told me there was work, so I informed boys from my village. They agreed and joined. Beyond that, I had no role,” Shah said.

He claimed the company handled all payments and return tickets. “Workers wear the company’s uniform, work at their site, yet when something goes wrong, the blame falls on people like us,” he said.

Shah also claimed this was the first time he had helped send workers abroad and vowed never to do this again.

Shikha Lakra, the head of the Jharkhand government’s Migrant Control Room under the state Labour Department, said that as soon as the matter escalated, the state government took measures and initiated the process of bringing back the workers. “We have also informed the CMO about the case and asked the company to clear the pending salaries of the workers. The dues have now been paid,” she said.

An official said the company has been in the news in the past, too. Earlier, workers from Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand employed by the company in Niger had been shot dead by militants, while another worker from Jammu and Kashmir was kidnapped. Following these incidents, an FIR was filed against an employee of the company.