Odisha government announces job loans for migrants

BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to retain the migrant workers who have started returning to their workplaces in other states after Covid cases started declining, the Odisha government has decided to provide them job loans. Minister for Labour and Rural Development Sushant Singh told media persons on Wednesday that job loans will be provided to migrant workers who returned to their native places during the second wave of the pandemic so that they can start small businesses to earn their livelihood.

The Minister said that as per official data, only about 43,000 migrant workers had returned this time when Covid cases surged in states in April and May where they worked. He said that a decision has been taken to persuade the migrant workers to stay back by creating livelihood opportunities for them in the State. He said that details of the job loan scheme for the migrant workers will be worked out by the government soon. He added that the State government will also provide loans to women migrant workers and engage them in Self-Help Groups (SHGs).

Besides, financial assistance of Rs 1,500 per month will be provided to each of the 30 lakh construction workers for the lockdown period, he added. Migrant workers who had returned to their native places in the State during the second wave three months back, have started to go back to their workplaces in states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka because of lack of livelihood opportunities in Odisha. 

A majority of migrant workers from Odisha work in the textile mills and the diamond industry in Surat and Ahmedabad and the fish processing units in Chennai and Mumbai. Sources maintained that unlike the first wave, migrant workers are not facing difficulties in returning this time.