MP: Create repository for guest workers to provide them aid

TNN | Apr 6, 2020, 04:41 IST

Coimbatore: With scores of stranded guest workers taking to the streets seeking food and essential commodities due to the 21-day lockdown, several politicians and trade union leaders have called for a repository for such workers to enable seamless distribution of essential commodities.
Over the past 10 days of the 21-day lockdown, workers mainly from the construction sector and eateries in the district have been left in the lurch by contractors or employers and have no means to sustain themselves.
On seeing their plight, some local NGOs, the civic body and trade unions across the district are helping them get access to food and shelter.
Political leaders and trade unionists have said these workers have been staying in the city for years but it is only when they come out on the streets that they are recognised.
R Natarajan, member of parliament from Coimbatore, told TOI that in the past few days, several MPs from other states had contacted him to offer help to guest workers from their states staying in Coimbatore. “MPs from West Bengal, Gujarat, Bihar and from the Congress headquarters have asked me to look into the situation of guest workers here and help them. These workers are from Perianaickenpalayam, Vatamalaipalayam, Ganapathi, Kurichi and Palladam,” he said.
Natarajan said a there is an urgent need to create a repository of these guest workers. “The firms which employ them or contractors who bring them here should submit details of these workers to the state government, which should create a repository. The state should ensure that basic facilities are provided to them,” he said.
Representatives of a few trade unions here said that assistance to guest workers should be streamlined. Representatives of the district branch of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) have petitioned district collector K Rajamani for giving financial assistance to unorganised guest workers. They said that there were more than 35,000 guest workers in the district from northern states and they are facing humongous hardships as they have no work and no income amid the lockdown.