Railway Protection Force (RPF) rescued seventeen child labourers from Balangir Railway Station while they were being moved to another location for work outside Odisha.
Officers detained a contractor identified as Ramesh Pandu from Chhattisgarh for questioning.
Sources said the children belonged to Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. They had been working for the past eighteen days on the Balangir–Khordha new railway line project near Purunakatak in Boudh district. The contractor allegedly planned to transfer them to another site when RPF intercepted the group.
After receiving information, teams from the Government Railway Police (GRP), the Child Welfare Committee, and the Child Protection Department reached the station and began an investigation. Officials confirmed that arrangements are being made to send the rescued minors back to their respective states.
Police registered a case against the contractor and other associates involved in the trafficking network. Investigators suspect a larger racket operating across multiple states to recruit and exploit child labourers for construction work.
