Bhubaneswar: Odisha government today decided to work out a definite action plan with credit linkage support to deal with the migration of labourers from the state.
The decision in this regard was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by chief secretary A P Padhi. The proposed action plan would have credit linkage support for the migrant workers following SHG (self help group) Model.
Padhi suggested to the Labour & ESI department to work out a SHG based action plan in convergence with Odisha Livelihood Mission for severely affected migration prone districts in first phase.
NABARD would also provide necessary financial assistance for formation and mobilisation of the SHGs at ground level, Padhi said.
The meeting also resolved that the Labour & ESI Department would set up help desks at the destination states of Telengana, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, New Delhi and others where Odia workers migrate.
"These Help Desks will be single point contact for all the migrant labourers and the Labour department will coordinate with destination states to provide necessary assistance to the Odia workers," said Labour and ESI secretary G Srinivas.
Srinivas said the Odisha government has entered into an MoU with Tata Trusts to examine the issue of migration and prepared an Action Plan for prevention of distress migration.
The Labour & ESI Department has already initiated actions like registration of the potential migrant labourers, identification of alternative livelihood options, exploring the possibilities of credit linkage, linking them with various agricultural and horticultural schemes.
The districts like Bargarh, Bolangir, Nuapada and Kalahandi are prone to labour migration. As of now, around 32,718 number of SHGs have been formed in these districts with a total membership of 3,66, 253.
It was decided to map the credibility of these SHGs and form new SHGs as per requirement for carrying forward the action plan designed for migrant workers, Srinivas said.