Bhubaneswar :Senior BJD leader and Lawmaker Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo strongly criticized the BJP government for failing to address migration of workers from Odisha to other States.
While participating in a debate on the issue,Shri Singh Deo said the highest number of distress migration was reported from the KBK area. As per a survey, at least one person from 30 percent of households in Odisha has been subject to distress migration and the situation remained the same even today, he said.
Maximum number of migrant people belong to SC and ST category. Migration of people is nothing bad or illegal but distress migration and their exploitation is a cause of concern for all, the BJD Lawmaker said.
“If we do not recognize it and do not find out the root cause, this problem will never be resolved,” he said.
On an average, 20 lakh people from Odisha are being migrated to other states each year in search of livelihood. During the lockdown, the previous government had brought 20 to 30,000 migrant workers in a month with the help of MPs and MLAs from other states, he pointed out.
Today also, the migrant workers are being exploited in other States by their employers, he said, while giving an example of a group of migrant labourers being exploited for several months in Andhra Pradesh, he added.
The State government, however, did not take any action to rescue the labourers from Andhra Pradesh, the MLA said.
MGNREGA is a major scheme to address distress migration of workers from the state. But, it is unfortunate that the new government has removed the name of 40 lakh MGNREGA cardholders from the list.
During the current financial year, the government has not been able to create more than 15 percent mandays in the migration prone districts. If the government is not able to give employment to the labourers, they will be forced to migrate to other states, Singh Deo pointed out.
He further said that the BJP government has formed a task force under the chairmanship of Deputy Chief Minister, but, nothing has been implemented on ground so far.
Enhancement of wages by Rs 100 and generation of additional mandays in the migration hit districts are the initiatives the previous government has also taken, he said.
There is also a delay in the release of funds by the central government under MGNREGA.
He also said that the Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) has been made defunct for more than six months during the new government. No fund has been released from the Council as the government yet to appoint chairman for the body, he added.