New job scheme for urban poor

Ranchi: Chief minister Hemant Soren on Friday launched an employment scheme to provide jobs to unskilled labourers who are struggling to make ends meet amid the pandemic in urban areas. The Mukhya Mantri Shramik (Shahri Rozgar Manjuri For Kamgar) Yojana has been propounded on the lines of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
Jharkhand has become the second state in the country after Kerala to launch an employment scheme for the urban poor. In June, the southern state had launched a similar scheme — Ayyankali Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Launching the scheme at the state secretariat, Soren said. “With this scheme, we aim to reach out to the urban poor in Jharkhand. As per the state government records, around 31% of those living in the urban areas fall below the poverty line and our target is to cover these families under the scheme.” He added that over five lakh families will benefit from the scheme.
State urban development secretary Vinay Chaubey said anyone above 18 years of age residing at a notified urban area can register under the scheme. After the formalities, the beneficiary will be issued job cards and work will be assigned to them within 15 days. If the registered workers do not get a job within a fortnight, the scheme has a provision for an unemployment allowance that will be transferred to the bank account of the job-seeker.
Asked about the projects in which the labourers will be assigned work, Chaubey said, “They will be engaged in developmental and maintenance work in urban areas by the ULBs and the subsidiaries of the state urban development department like housing board, JUIDCO and others.” He added, “The labourers will also be engaged in works being done by the power and forest department within the urban limits.”
Vijaya Jadhav, the director of municipal administration, said, “We are collecting the data of all skilled and unskilled migrant workers who have returned to their homes during the lockdown. Once we collate all the data, we will start assigning jobs to the labourers.”