Kolkata: Not a single death of a migrant labourer has been reported in Bengal as a result of the pro-active steps taken by the Mamata Banerjee government, including the state Panchayats and Rural Development department creating 10 crore person-days only by providing jobs to migrants during and after the first phase of the Covid pandemic, Super Cyclone Amphan and Cyclone Yaas under the MGNREGS.
"We had ensured the livelihood of migrant workers after they returned to Bengal during the first phase of the pandemic. There was not a single case where a person staying in rural areas has sought a job card and was not provided with it. As a result, there were no cases of migrant deaths in the state," state Panchayats minister Subrata Mukherjee informed the Assembly during a discussion over the budget of his department.
Later, he stated that around 10 lakh migrant workers were provided jobs under the MGNREGS, leading to creating around 10 crore person-days.
He informed the House that a total of 41.40 crore person-days have been generated till March 31 in 2021 in the last financial year. The average person-days of employment provided per household in 2019-20 fiscal was 49 days, which has been increased to 52 in the 2020-21 financial year. Most importantly, works were provided among 79.66 lakh households and 1.18 crore individual workers which is an all-time high. At least 15.52 lakh new job cards were issued in the financial year. The state government has proposed a budget allocation of Rs 2,040 crore for the implementation of the MGNREGS in the 2021-22 fiscal.
A budget of a total of Rs 23,980.27 crore is proposed for the department that implements schemes, including Banglar Awas Yojana, West Bengal State Rural Livelihood Mission (WBSRLM), Gramin Sadak Yojana, Jai Bangla Scheme and Mission Nirmal Bangla.
Under the WBSRLM, more than 8.7 lakh all-women Self-Help Groups have been formed and brought under the Anandadhara scheme.