Industries in Odisha urged to rope in locals

RAIPUR: Faced with a situation where migrant returnees are beginning to head back to their workplaces due to lack of opportunities here, the Jagatsinghpur district administration has called upon industries to provide employment to the local workers on priority. While asking the project director of district rural development agency (DRDA), district labour officer and block development officers (BDOs) to start skill mapping of all returnees, Jagatsinghpur Collector Sangram Keshari Mohapatra requested the industries and other establishments based in the port town of Paradip to engage the locals instead of hiring workers from other states. 

The companies in the port town can contact district administration to get skill details of local returnees.
Sources said, nearly 20,000 migrant workers had come back to their villages in the district after the nationwide lockdown was imposed. As they are now left without work and earning, many have begun to go back to their places of work despite the risks involved. 

The returnees alleged that they are unable to find livelihood options as industries are giving priority to outsiders. Contract agencies of Paradip Port Trust, IFFCO, PPL, Essar, IOCL and other industries, are ignoring locals and bringing workers from outside, they alleged. 

However, Larsen and Turbo which is executing the construction work of Paradip Refinery dismissed the claims that outside workers are being favoured over locals. “Out of nearly 3,000 workers engaged in our projects, 70 per cent are from Odisha. But, when it comes to skilled workers, we need those who have the desired technical expertise and familiarity with the specialised nature of construction works,” company officials said.

On the other hand, skilled migrant workers are enrolling in MGNREGS due to lack of options. “We are skilled, yet we have to work as labourers to earn a meagre wage of `207 per day. We have kept our self-respect aside because we have to survive, “ said Saroj Pradhan, a migrant worker from Balikuda.
Meanwhile, assistant labour commissioner Kumud Ranjan Das said, the department has prepared a list of 17,000 skilled and unskilled migrant workers. “Their details have been forwarded to industries,” he added.