State prepares data of 10L migrants to help them find jobs in Bengal
Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government has prepared a data of 10 lakh migrant workers comprising details of their skills to help them find jobs in Bengal as they have returned to the state empty-handed due to the nationwide lockdown that was imposed to tackle the pandemic.
The move was taken following the direction of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to ensure that the migrant workers did not have to venture out again to other states in search of jobs. The data has been prepared in record time following the Chief Minister's direction.
All the scheduled Shramik Special trains that the state government had engaged to bring back its people from different parts of the country have already reached Bengal. Besides those, a large number of people returned by buses and personal vehicles. So far, more than 12 lakh migrant workers have returned to Bengal since the lockdown was imposed.
"We have already prepared data comprising details of 10 lakh returnees. As most of them have already come back, we feel that inclusion of the data of the remaining returnees will be completed by Tuesday and more details in this regard will become available," said a senior state government official.
Sources said besides the name and address of the migrant workers, the database also contains details of where they came from, the work that they did and its tenure.
The official said: "The database will help in easy sorting, based on their skill sets, as and when opportunity knocks."
It has been found that a large number of returnees are skilled in jori, jewellery and construction work. The state has witnessed outstanding growth in all the three sectors in the past nine years with a series of steps taken by the Mamata Banerjee government. Both jori and jewellery units have come up in different industrial parks, mainly in South Bengal. Similarly, the real estate sector shares 10 per cent of the state's GDP. "Hence, it will not be of much trouble for the returnees to get jobs in these sectors in Bengal itself," the official added.
After getting a detailed report of the nightmarish situation through which the migrant labourers have had to go through during their stay in different parts of the country as they were not provided with food, shelter and proper treatment during the nationwide lockdown, the Chief Minister had said that there were ample options in Bengal where these people could get jobs and lead a decent life.
