As death toll in Kerala floods crosses the 300 mark, administrative authorities of West Bengal are concerned about the migrant workers from the state who have gone to Kerala.
As death toll in Kerala floods crosses the 300 mark, administrative authorities of West Bengal are concerned about the migrant workers from the state who have gone to Kerala.
Sources at Nabanna, the state secretariat, said that the chief secretary had contacted Kerala administrative officers to enquire about migrant labourers from Bengal who had been to Kerala for a livelihood.
Sources also said that at least two labourers from Bengal had been reported missing. According to officials of the labour department in Kerala, there are about three lakh migrant workers registered with the department, of whom about 20 per cent were from Bengal, the highest number compared to other states of the country, followed by Assam.
People mostly from districts like Nadia, Murshidabad and Nadia of Bengal have migrated to Kerala for earning a livelihood.
Nabanna sources also said that the state government had urged the Kerala government to help migrant workers from Bengal who had been stuck in the flood, to return to Bengal. If need be, officials of disaster management force would be sent to Kerala. Preparations are afoot in that regard.
Kerala government, in a statement had said that the Labour and Skills department had started a state-level coordination centre at Trivandrum for helping guest workers (as they call migrant workers) and common people in Kerala.
“According to the instructions of the labour and skills minister TP Ramakrishnan the facilitation centre has been made operational on war footing,” an administrative official said. Emergency helplines – 0471 2330833, 07012109743 – have been put up for everyone to contact the facilitation centre at Trivandrum. “Guest workers can call on these numbers round the clock and for their convenience they would be assisted in several languages including Hindi, Bengali, Assamese and Odiya,” the official said.
Trivandrum Ernakulam and Kozhikode regions of labour department is co-ordinating the relief activities with the help of district authorities and Chief Ministers Disaster Relief Management Centre.
The centre is controlled by additional labour commissioner (enforcement) and the details of labourers registered there would be passed on to respective district labour officers and state disaster control centre.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had tweeted her concern for the flood affected in Kerala on Saturday. ‘Words alone are not enough. Yet I must tell all my brothers and sisters of Kerala that our thoughts and prayers are with each one of you. Condolences to those families who have lost their loved ones. Strength to those who are fighting the #KeralaFloods’, her tweet read.
Kerala has witnessed one of the worst natural calamities in the century, which has left over 324 people dead in the last nine days and over two lakh people displaced.
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 "Kerala floods_Reuters")
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