The Kozhikode Corporation now has accurate data on migrant labourers working in the city, thanks to the lockdown. The majority of the workers are now under the civic body’s protection in various labour camps.
Before the lockdown, the corporation had only details of around 5,000 labourers collected through its ‘Garima’ project which offered them free healthcare. But there are now 12,098 labourers in the 1,225 camps supported by the corporation. “We know that around 5,000 labourers had left the city before the lockdown and another 5,000 are accommodated by their employers. That takes the number of migrant labourers in the city to over 20,000,” said corporation Secretary Binu Francis.
The corporation collected data of labourers to provide them enough supplies during the lockdown period. Health inspectors had visited camps under sponsors and contractors to get an accurate picture of the beneficiaries. Later, the corporation provided them foodgrain and vegetables worth ₹56.53 lakh.
Mr. Francis said that a large number of them had not registered with the Labour Department and were illegal labourers. It was desperation that finally pushed them to come under the civic body’s protection, he said.
“Initially, we had only 6,000 labourers under our protection. However, sponsors and contractors who had been supporting the rest of them soon realised that they could not afford it in the long run and passed over the responsibility to the civic body,” Mr. Francis said.
The corporation had been losing a huge amount of tax from contractors as it had no data on the exact number of labourers. Now, with data in hand, the corporation plans to come up with a by-law regarding the accommodation of migrant labourers in the city soon, which will cover regulations for employing them, basic facilities required in labour camps and a proper tax structure for employers.