Govt to initiate money transfer to stranded labourers in a wk: Oraon

ASRP Mukesh | TNN | Apr 16, 2020, 05:00 IST

Ranchi: State finance minister Rameshwar Oraon on Wednesday said the government’s direct benefit transfer (DBT) of one time money into the accounts of stranded migrants, both within and outside Jharkhand, will begin within the next few days as letters to initiate ground works in this regard is being dispatched to all the districts and local legislators.
On Monday, the cabinet decided to transfer Rs 1,000 to the stranded migrants in Jharkhand and Rs 2,000 to the those stuck outside the state as a one-time immediate monetary relief. Beneficiary identification will be done on the recommendation by local MLA to the concerned of a particular district. Each MLA can recommend up to Rs 25 lakh from his coffers.
Talking to TOI, Oraon said, “The government is serious on extending immediate monetary relief to stranded migrants and following cabinet’s nod on Monday, official communiques are being sent to all the districts. In the next step, all the MLAs will begin a survey to identify the beneficiaries in their respective constituencies and recommend them to the deputy development commissioner (DDC). We will start sending the money in a week’s time I suppose.”
When asked how will the government ensure that the amount is being credited to a genuine account, Oraon said, “Focus will be on accounts which are linked with Aadhaar. This is the best option available with the government at the moment. Rest, we will sort out the problems as and when we encounter them on a case-by-case basis.”
As per the government’s assessment, around seven lakh migrants are stranded in other states while identification of those stuck within Jharkhand is underway, sources in the labour and employment generation department said.
Jharkhand Janadhikaar Manch (JJM), which is a conglomeration of several rights body working in different social sectors, cited several challenges in transferring money with the help of Aadhar linkage. JJM member Siraj Datta said, “Only depending on Aadhaar linkage could be a problem as we have seen in the past that several accounts are linked with the wrong Aadhaar numbers in Jharkhand.”
He also spoke about the cumbersome process of money transfer. He said, “The MLA will first recommend the beneficiaries which will then be cross-checked by the DDC, which is nothing but cumbersome. The entire process is going to take weeks. If the government has the data of seven lakh people, it should then just take them two to three days to put all the government call centres at work in order to collect their account details for the transfer of DBT. The government can choose to have electronic receipts to track the account holder in case of any gaffe.” He added, “Those migrants who are stuck near the cities and have access to platforms like Google Pay can be given money through it.”
Datta also pointed out that the quantum of funds is too less and it could lead to uneven distribution. “There is a cap of Rs 25 lakh per MLA for recommendation. Considering 80 MLAs in the state, the total amount of funds comes to about Rs 20 crore. What if a particular constituency has two lakh migrants while another has 50,000? We suspect not many would be able to receive timely help at all. The government must increase the quantum of funds,” he said.