Bengal government to open training centres in every district to upskill migrant labourers

A source said the decision was taken to retain potential migrant workers and ensure the return of a section of people who had left Bengal for jobs

People at a Duare Sarkar camp in Naxalbari block of Darjeeling district last week: The Telegraph

Snehamoy Chakraborty, TT, Calcutta,19.09.23 :The Mamata Banerjee government will open training centres in every district to upskill migrant labourers in various trades so that they are able to settle in Bengal for work if they so desire.

A source said the decision was taken to retain potential migrant workers and ensure the return of a section of people who had left Bengal for jobs. The training centres were planned in the wake of the deaths of at least 27 migrant workers in accidents outside Bengal last month.

Of them, 23 migrant workers from Malda were killed on August 23 in Mizoram following the collapse of an under-construction railway bridge. Three from Murshidabad were killed in New Delhi on August 25 while they were working at a high-rise. Another migrant worker from Malda was killed in Assam on August 28.

“According to the preliminary decision, every district will have a training centre for migrant workers. Those centres will give training and certification in various trades like masonry, carpentry and house painting. Migrant workers will have the option to learn spoken English and basic computer skills,” said a senior state government official.

Multiple training centres are likely to come up in districts like Murshidabad, Malda, North Dinajpur and South Dinajpur as they contribute the highest number of migrant workers from Bengal.

The government has a plan to initiate the training once it readies an official database

of migrant workers registered through Duare Sarkar camps.

Around 7.56 lakh migrant labourers have already registered with the government at the Duare Sarkar camps.

Rough estimates suggest 22 lakh migrant workers from Bengal work in other states and another five lakh abroad.

A senior Nabanna official, however, said the actual number could be around 38 lakh.

The chief minister has repeatedly requested migrant workers to return to Bengal and start their own small businesses with the help of a soft loan scheme of the state government.

“Bengal has so many job options and the scope will be greater as soon as several industries come up. I request you (migrant workers) to return and start your own business as our government is providing soft loans up to Rs 5 lakh,” Mamata had said during a political rally in Calcutta on August 28.

A source said the government had decided to put its best foot forward to prevent workers from leaving Bengal for other states after the BJP spun a narrative against the ruling dispensation over a lack of employment opportunities.

“Once the database is ready, it would be easier for the government to identify individuals and the causes of their migration. The government has a plan to reach out to them and offer them the benefits of various welfare schemes. Our chief minister has taken multiple measures to help migrant workers stay back,” said Samirul Islam, the chairperson of the West Bengal Migrant Workers’ Welfare Board.

A senior bureaucrat in the state government said while the step to upskill migrant workers had been planned to keep them from moving out, the honed skills could actually help them get work more easily in other states.

“Bengal is the prime supplier of masons and other construction workers for the northern and southern states. Usually, they don’t get work under government schemes there because of a lack of experience certificates. A certificate from a government-run training centre would help them get work under government schemes and big private players in construction,” he said.