UP govt to set up Migration Commission to ensure job, social security

CM Adityanath directed officials to prepare the roadmap of constituting the Migration Commission

Amid the massive influx of stranded labourers following covid-19 lockdown, the Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday announced to set up a Migration Commission for the welfare of migrants.

The Commission will look into the emergent issues of the skill mapping of these workers and providing them with jobs and social security.

Chairing a review meeting here, chief minister Yogi Adityanath directed officials to prepare the roadmap of constituting the Migration Commission and taking forward the agenda of providing jobs to the incoming migrants.
 

So far, 2.3 million workers have returned to UP from industrialised states, such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand etc. On average, more than 150,000 migrants are coming back every day due to lockdown.

“The Commission will take steps for providing employment to the migrants, so that they could be integrated into the state’s economy,” UP additional chief secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi said here this evening.

 

He said the state is looking to harnessing the workmanship and skills of migrants by mapping their skills. “Interestingly, several of these workers are trained paramedics and the CM has suggested their services should be utilised to overcome the current shortage in the state.”

In fact, the state revenue department is also developing an online job portal, wherein the details of the migrants would be uploaded to enable their easy recruitment. Most of these migrants are skilled workers and posses skills in different fields, including metal, concrete etc and the portal will help them get suitable employment.

Earlier, the CM had instructed officials to create more than 2 million local level employment opportunities for migrants. The government has planned to energise the rural sector industries viz. micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), agriculture, one district one product (ODOP) scheme, dairy, animal husbandry, etc to generate fresh employment.

At the same time, the state is preparing the proposals to benefit from the Rs 20 trillion package announced by the Centre to overcome the Covid-19 lockdown challenges and to revive the domestic economy.

So far, 1,113 trains have ferried more than 15 million labourers from other states, while 208 additional trains are expected to arrive later today or in the coming days. All these 1,321 trains arranged by the states are estimated to bring a total of more than 1.8 million workers.

Besides, estimated 6.5 million migrants had also returned either on their own or ferried by the roadways buses from mainly Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand etc.

Meanwhile, the ASHA (accredited social health activist) workers have surveyed more than 0.80 million migrants and reported 873 suspected cases to the medical department. The state is also ramping up testing to curb the spread of the disease. The state medical department has procured latest machines to jack up the daily testing capacity.