Govt efforts pay off, TN now has data of 7.75L guest workers
Going by the data, 2.16 lakh workers are engaged in textile industries, 1.79 lakh in the manufacturing sector, and 1.52 lakh in the construction field.
Representative image (File)
CHENNAI: In what could be State’s first-ever official figure on migrant workers, 7,75,596 labourers from other states have been enrolled in the database of the Tamil Nadu Labour Department over last one year. Tirupur, a textile hub, tops the list with the most number of guest workers, followed by Kancheepuram and Coimbatore districts.
It was in response to the crisis situation faced during the Covid pandemic-induced lockdown that the State government decided on an exclusive real-time database portal that could help track and address their grievances and make TN attractive for guest workers.
“Over 10 lakh workers were enlisted, of which, we’ve validated info and prepared a live register that has 7.75 lakh workers,” said an official handling the web portal.
After collecting a copy of Aadhaar and other information such as contact numbers and place of work and stay, the authorities have categorised them into 21 different industries/sectors. The data revealed that 25,018 migrant labourers are self-employed.
Going by the data, 2.16 lakh workers are engaged in textile industries, 1.79 lakh in the manufacturing sector, and 1.52 lakh in the construction field. “The data gives us a sector and district-wise presence of migrant workers. It will facilitate to enrol them in welfare boards to benefit under government schemes,” said an official.
The authorities have roped in office-bearers of various groups such as Bihar, Rajasthan businessmen associations, NGOs and activists to build confidence among the migrant labourers and protect their rights. “We are also exploring the option of setting up help desks-cum-information collection points at railway stations,” he said adding the data would come in handy during rumours on guest workers targetted in State.
