In a bid to keep tabs on the criminal elements among the migrant workforce, the Police Department is planning to make a fingerprint registry with all the information on migrant workers currently settled in various part of the city for odd jobs.
The project will initially cover workers who are currently employed in various hotels and restaurants in the city. After holding a preliminary discussion with the hotel owners, the department has directed all employers in the sector to submit the details of their migrant workforce to the Assistant Commissioner of Special Branch with copies of their identity proofs.
The new initiative comes from the police as they currently lack a method to trace migrant workers who disappear after involvement in various criminal activities and whose activities are on the rise. The police are also finding it difficult to verify the identity of migrant workers found in suspicious circumstances.
Though some of the hoteliers had said it would be difficult to furnish details of their migrant workforce, others have started sending the details to the Special branch wing.
Arrangements are also under way to sensitise the hotel owners on the necessity of such an initiative.
“As part of the project, the department has also plans to issue special identity cards for the workers with the details collected from the hotel entrepreneurs concerned,” says Assistant Commissioner (Special Branch) P.C. Sajeevan. The main hindrance to the initiative is the claim of some hoteliers that the migrant workers offer their service for a short period and that the identity card in the hotel’s name is a risk for the hoteliers, he said.
Though the hotels are the first to begin such an initiative, officials hint that a similar data collection process will be carried out in other work areas too. In the second and third phases, the construction and textile sectors will be covered.
