Jharkhand govt facilitates return of workers stuck in faraway lands

In case of any mishap, the initiative will be taken to bring back the bodies of the migrants to their homeland, the statement said.Safe and Responsible Migration Centres are being set up in three districts of the state which include Gumla, West Singhbhum, and Dumka.

Chetlal Mahto, a resident of Chano village of Hazaribag district, had lost all hopes of being able to return home in Jharkhand. He along with 29 others, employed by a private firm and stuck in Malaysia, could return to Jharkhand at the intervention of the state government in May and June this year. They also received their dues.

The workers from the state, who were living and working in the Malaysian capita Kuala Lumpur as labourers since 2019, had taken to social media to urge the Jharkhand government to facilitate their return. Likewise, Fucha Mahli who was forced to remain in Andamans as a bonded labour for over three decades could return to Jharkhand with the help of the state government.

Over 3,000 workers were safely brought back to Jharkhand in the last three months, the state government claimed. In the last two and a half years, lakhs of labourers and workers who found themselves trapped in various states of the country and abroad have been guaranteed a safe return to their homeland, the Jharkhand government said.

''Following the instructions of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, the joint efforts made by the Department of Labour and the State Migrant Control Room not only ensured the safe return of the workers but also guaranteed that they were paid their outstanding wages. “From 27 March 2020 to 30 June 2022, a sum of Rs 2.27 crore was paid for benefitting 3,108 labourers/ workers,'' a statement from the state government said.

Also, a sum of Rs 6.39 crore was paid to the families of 168 workers from the state posthumously, the statement said.

Migration Centres are also being set up in Kerala and Leh, it said.

Registration, awareness, and publicity are being done by the State Migrant Control Room in each of the districts regarding labour and migrant registrations in the Shramadhan portal of the Department of Labour, Government of Jharkhand, it said. It is being done to make migration safe and responsible. In case of any mishap, the initiative will be taken to bring back the bodies of the migrants to their homeland, the statement said.

Safe and Responsible Migration Centres are being set up in three districts of the state which include Gumla, West Singhbhum, and Dumka.