TV
As many as 60, 683 migrant workers have been allowed to migrate outside Odisha this year so far and the government is giving special focus to solving issues pertaining to migrant workers in the State, informed Labour Minister Ganesh Ram Singh Khuntia on Tuesday.
In reply to an adjournment proposal by the Congress, Minister Khuntia said in the Assembly that as many as 14 districts in the State have been identified as migration-prone districts. He further informed that bodies of as many as 112 migrant workers have been brought to Odisha by the State government in 2024 so far.
According to the Minister, in a bid to stop migration of workers to outside the State, the wages of labourers have been hiked and the compensation amount after death has also been increased.
“A task force has been formed under the chairmanship of the Deputy Chief Minister to stop migrant workers from migrating outside the State. Ministers of as many as eight districts have been made the members of the task force. The number of working days under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has been increased to 300 days in 477 Gram Panchayats of 20 blocks in Bolangir, Bargarh, Kalahandi and Nuapada districts,” said Minister Khuntia.
Read Also: 60 migrant workers from Odisha died outside the state since 2018: Minister
However, Opposition BJD and Congress rapped the ruling BJP over the migration issue in the State.
“When lakhs of migrant workers returned to Odisha from outside the State during Covid times, the miserable state of Odisha was revealed. Though the newly formed BJP government has been in power for the last six months, they are still blaming the previous government for the issue which is not acceptable,” said Congress MLA Ashok Das.
Meanwhile, BJD said that around 20 lakh people in the State are migrating outside the State to work as migrant workers and names of as many as 40 lakh labourers have been eliminated from MGNREGS list after BJP came to power.
“The BJP government doesn’t have serious intent to solve distress migration in the State,” said BJD MLA Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo.
In response, BJP hit back hard by saying that migrant workers' issues have been compounded during the tenure of BJD.
“Did BJD forget that as many as 20 lakh people had migrated outside the State to work as migrant workers during Covid time? Why didn’t they make any long-term arrangements for it? Will people be able to make their living here by giving them minimum wages? The newly formed BJP government is giving special focus to solving migration issues,” said Labour Minister Ganesh Ram Singh Khuntia.
