Bhubaneswar, December 9: As many as 518 migrant labourers from Odisha died while working outside the State during the last five years, Labour and Employees' State Insurance Minister Ganesh Ram Singkhuntia told the Assembly on Tuesday.

In a written reply to a query of BJD legislator Arun Sahoo, the Minister said the 518 migrant workers from Odisha died during the period 2021 to 2025 (Till Date).

Minister said out of the 518 casualties, mortal remains of 395 migrant labourers were shifted to their native places for last rites.

Highest 60 migrant labourers from Kalahandi district died in the last five years while working outside the State followed by 56 from Ganjam. As many as 38 migrant labourers from Bolangir have also died outside the State followed by 35 from Nabarnagpur, 34 from Kandhamal, 28 from Kalahandi, 26 from Chhatrapur, 24 from Mayurbhanj and 23 from Kendrapara.

Notably, the Odisha Government has set up a high-level task force under the chairmanship of Deputy Chief Minister K V Singh Deo for taking steps towards the reduction of distress migration and mitigate the sufferings of inter-State migrant workers in Odisha. The task force has already held a series of meetings with different stakeholders for further course of action.

This objective of forming the high-level task force is to find out in detail the problems of migrants and decide upon ways to solve those. The task force will also recommend steps to be taken up by various Government agencies to check distress migration and mitigate the sufferings of migrant labourers.

According to sources, over three to five lakh labourers migrate to different States from Odisha every year in search of work.