Many guest labourers want to leave Tamil Nadu even if they are offered jobs after lockdown, survey finds

Shanmughasundaram J | TNN | May 1, 2020, 18:17 IST

(Representative image)

CHENNAI: A survey conducted among guest (migrant) labourers has revealed that 63% of them have not received their wages for the work they had done in the last few months (till March 23) and 95% of them want to go back to their native places.
Only 25% of the labourers consider staying back if jobs are available. The remaining workers want to leave the state even if jobs are given to them, according to the survey.
Volunteers- driven network called Chennai Citizens Covid-19 Fund for Migration Labourers conducted the survey among the 79 workers drawn from their database.
The network of volunteers has received phone calls from guest workers from across Tamil Nadu, seeking food, dry ration and financial aid.
“We have formed the network to help the stranded labourers who don’t have food and money. Later, we conducted telephonic interviews with random samples (labourers) representing various states, labourers of various sectors and stranded in different parts of Tamil Nadu,” advocate Shreela M of the network.
They have submitted the database of 800 cases with contact details of more than 14,000 guest workers in Tamil Nadu to state’s nodal officer Atulya Misra to regulate the issues related to guest labourers.
D W Karuna, an activist and member of the network, said “38% of the workers were concerned as they had unsettled dues for room rents and no money to settle dues.”
One of the migrant workers employed by companies such as Bay Area Property Developers and L&W Construction said that 95 of them had not received their wages for the last three months. The lockdown had made their situation worse, he added.
The workers urged the government to make their employers settle the dues before they return home.
Activist Nityanand Jayaram of the network said they had submitted a petitioned to the government to appoint district-level nodal officers and set up multilingual helplines to respond to workers who want to return to their homes, allow migrants to travel together, adhering to physical distancing, ensure that they reach their native place safely.