UP govt to set up five-member panel to create employment for returnee labourers

The Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday decided to constitute a five-member committee to ensure employment opportunities for migrant labourers who have returned to the state from other parts of the country in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown.

The move is likely to benefit more than 5 lakh labourers who have come back over the last 45 days, a senior official said.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath gave directions for setting up the committee while reviewing the lockdown situation at his official residence here, a statement issued by the state government said.

The committee will be headed by the agriculture production commissioner and include the principal secretaries of departments of rural development; panchayati raj; micro, small and medium enterprises; and skill development, it said.

"Following the imposition of the nationwide lockdown since March 25, there has been a problem of unemployment for rickshaw pullers, e-rickshaw operators, cart pullers, railway coolies and daily wage labourers. The UP government is extremely sensitive to this aspect and is making every effort to extend help to them," the statement quoted Adityanath as saying.

"The committee should ensure the creation of employment under the One District, One Product (ODOP) scheme of the UP government and also organise loan melas," he added.

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi told reporters here, "The chief minister is reviewing the lockdown situation daily. He has asked (officials) to prepare a plan to provide employment to more than five lakh migrant workers who returned to Uttar Pradesh during the last 45 days because of the COVID-19 outbreak."