Bhubaneswar : Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today inaugurated a special migrant labour help desk in Hyderabad through video conferencing on the occasion of International Labour Day.
Naveen spoke to Telangana’s housing and labour minister N. Narasimha Reddy and thanked the Telangana government for its cooperation in setting up the facility.
Inaugurating the help desk and other projects, Naveen said: “We are committed to the welfare of the working class, especially those who are in the unorganized sector.”
He said a social security board would be set up for workers in the unorganized sector.
The state government has plans to set up such help desks in four more states – Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, official sources said.
These desks will provide necessary assistance and protection to the migrant laborers who go out of Odisha in search of better wages. Several cases have been reported where the contractors and employers outside the state had subjected the migrant laborers to exploitation.
The chief minister also launched a special action plan in Balangir and Nuapada districts to prevent migration from these two districts.
“A sum of Rs 134 crore will be spent on the implementation of the plan,” he said.
The state government and Tata Trusts signed MoU on Saturday to implement the special plan to reduce migration initially in Balangir and Nuapada districts. The plan will help in providing alternate employment opportunities to members of the impoverished families.
The special action plan will be implemented through a convergence model with departments of agriculture, Panchayati Raj, water resources, skill development & technical education and food supplies & consumer welfare coming together for it.
The action plan, which is being implemented in Balangir and Nuapada district on the pilot basis, will be extended to other migration-prone districts of the state in a phased manner.
The chief minister also laid the foundation stones for three transit homes for laborers named “Ashray” at Kharavela Nagar and did the same for Cuttack, Jajpur, Paradip and Berhampur through video conferencing.
The government has planned to construct such transit homes at 21 places in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Rourkela and Sambalpur cities apart from Dhenakal, Angul, Paradip, Jharsuguda and Jajpur towns to accommodate 1,700 construction workers.
Labour minister Prafulla Mallick said registration of unorganized and domestic laborers would be undertaken through the Odisha Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board. A special action plan would be drawn up to abolish child labour in the state, he said.
Chairman of the board Subas Singh said more than 18.45 lakh construction workers had been registered by the board and provided with financial assistance of Rs 389 crore.
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