Bihar team terms videos on guest workers fake, thanks TN govt and media

CHENNAI: After its four-day visit to Tamil Nadu to assess the ground situation, a high-level team of the Bihar government on Tuesday rejected outright the alleged attacks on guest workers in the southern state and termed the videos circulated on social media as fake.
“None of the guest workers, whom we had interacted with individually and in groups, said they faced any problem in Tamil Nadu,” Bihar rural development secretary D Balamurugan told reporters at the secretariat.
Emerging from a meeting with chief secretary V Irai Anbu, head of the team Balamurugan told reporters that the team had conveyed its sincere thanks to the chief secretary on behalf of the Bihar government.
“We also saw the videos and found out that the incidents had taken place elsewhere. A murder took place in Jodhpur (Rajasthan) and another incident in Hyderabad. One incident in Coimbatore was not related to Bihar workers but that of locals. The workers have realized that they were fake,” Balamurugan said.
Irai Anbu presented a report to the Bihar team on the action taken by the Tamil Nadu government across the state, as part of its confidence building measures among guest workers.
The bureaucrat said panic of workers and their families subsided after getting to know that the videos were fake. This was due to the continuous action of the Tamil Nadu and Bihar governments.
“We also thank the media for the support and stating that the videos were fake as it reassured the families there,” the officer said.
The four-member Bihar team visited Coimbatore and Tirupur and Guindy in Chennai and interacted with the workers, representatives of trade bodies. The district administrators had held an “outreach” programme, meeting around 40,000 workers to allay their fears.
Refusing to comment on the motive behind the fake videos, Balamurugan said many workers had been in Tamil Nadu for 14 or 30 years and certain individuals for four months. “They got panicked upon seeing the videos earlier. They no longer panic given the confidence building measures,” the officer said.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu public secretary D Jagannathan read out the letter written by Bihar chief secretary Amir Subhani to his Tamil Nadu counterpart on March 3, in which the former had stated that Bihar government was grateful to the Tamil Nadu government for the support extended and assurance given regarding the safety of Bihar labourers working in Tamil Nadu. The team was sent to Tamil Nadu to further ensure cooperation and support in the matter.