Krishnanagar, June 14: The Bengal BJP would soon begin to develop a databank of migrant workers in the state to streamline their trade imparting necessary training so that they can be offered suitable jobs or financial assistance to launch entrepreneurship.
The endeavor of the saffron party is being viewed as a major step to woo a big chunk of the voters in the South Bengal and in some North Bengal districts in particular where approximately over sixty lakh people work in different trades and industries in outside states as migrant workers.
When asked if the Bengal BJP has conceived any rehabilitation plan for the migrant workers in the post-lockdown situation, the party’s state committee president Dilip Ghosh stated that party leaders across the state have been asked to prepare database at each block with their personal details.
“We have told our leaders at every block level to prepare the list of the migrant workers in their respective areas. The initiative would begin by the end of this month. We have advised them to categorize individual trade. Since a large section of these migrant workers is unskilled, we have decided to impart the necessary training in their chosen fields so that they can be offered the job, or be provided with financial assistance to run own entrepreneurship”, Ghosh said in a media conference held in Krishnanagar on Sunday.
Owing to the Covid 19 situation most of the migrant workers returned home in the different districts. However, many of the migrant workers may not return to their work outside Bengal due to fear even after the lockdown is withdrawn. “Our objective is to support these migrant workers for the sake of their survival”, Ghosh told NfN.
Ghosh also appraised that the proposed training would be imparted under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, adding that the Bengal BJP would appeal to the centre for a rehabilitation package for such migrant workers.
“This is a very important aspect. The state government has so far neither made any list of migrant workers nor is it aware of the number of such labours working in any particular state. So we have decided to begin this process”, Ghosh claimed.
After the Kulgam carnage in Kashmir occurred in 2018, in which five labourers were shot dead by suspected militants, the Bengal government advised the district administrations to prepare their respective database of such migrant workers.
Among the districts which have such migrant workers, Murshidabad tops the list, followed by Birbhum, Nadia, Malda, and other districts of South and North Bengal. A sizeable number of workers from these district work in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan and in North Indian states also.
When reminded about the state government’s initiative of the database of migrant workers, Bengal BJP chief said, “We have so far found no such database in any district…”.
A BJP leader in Kolkata said, “We have strong doubt whether the state government has at all managed to make such a database. One of the key impediments to ensure the return of the distressed migrant workers stranded due to lockdown was the lack of specific data about their number, trade and location of their work.
Ghosh later during a meeting had advised the party workers to collect data of the migrant workers visiting door to door and to register their names so that individual database could be developed with detailed information”.