Jobs for migrant workers in Assam; Scene still hazy now

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: With migrant workers still coming to Assam from other States, their number is quite hazy; and so is the ongoing process to provide them jobs.

With reference to registration of the number and categories of migrant labourers coming to the State from other States, the State Panchayat and Rural Development (P&RD) department has got around 10,000 such workers till June 25, 2020 from among the over three lakh returnees. There are 1,000 other such migrant workers already in the State. Most of the migrant workers are labourers. The registration process has some hurdles as such people are either in institutional quarantine or in home quarantine.

P&RD officials have to collect data physically, and the online registration is going to start soon.

The department has classified the migrant workers into 112 categories. Around 3,000 of them are labourers, 650 are cook and bakery workers, 460 are security guards, 525 are carpenters, over 200 are restaurant workers besides others. Among the migrant workers, there are very few techies. The registration has got 8 people working in aircraft maintenance, three digital workers, 11 plastic dye engineering and seven software engineers.

Sources said that since data collection is still underway, providing job avenues to them seems to be a long-drawn-out process. Moreover, the migrant workers – while some among have just completed their quarantine phases, many others are still in quarantine – are not in the mood to go for joining works immediately. Away from families for a long time, they feel cozy to be with family members for some time.

The ground reality is that the MGNREGA has some limitations; and it cannot engage all such workers. The registration has also revealed that 5,614 migrant workers have job cards. While around 2,600 are interested to get job cards, 5,300 others are keen to hone their skills through training. The P&RD department is consulting the issue with the line departments for engaging the migrant workers based on their respective skill sets.

Even though the government assured the migrant workers of jobs, the fresh lockdown in Guwahati and the weekend lockdowns in the urban areas of other districts across the State, it seems, will impede the process.

The Advisory Committee for Revitalization of Economy of Assam has also given short-and-long-term suggestions for the rehabilitation of migrant workers. It has suggested that some of such workers can be engaged in disaster management during floods and the fight against COVID-19 as volunteers. Construction workers should be given a relief of Rs 10,000 each, and job avenues should be created in agriculture and allied sectors.

According to sources, a section of migrant workers is keen to rejoin their jobs as and when the situation normalizes. Moreover, a section of their employers did assure them of taking them back after the pandemic. The moot question: How can the State government help such workers in the interim period till they go back to their earlier occupations? 

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