Steps on to collect details of North Indian labourers

Superintendent of Police M.R. Sibi Chakravarthi addresses owners of industrial establishments at a meeting to drive home importance of profiling migrant workers in Erode on Saturday. - PHOTO: M. GOVARTHAN

The police took a major step on Saturday to gather details of North Indian labourers by enlisting the support of their employers.

At a meeting chaired by the Superintendent of Police M.R. Sibi Chakravarthy, industrialists owning units in Perundurai SIPCOT Estate were apprised of a format readied by the police to gather details such as the State to which they belonged to, address, and proof of identity among others.

There was a plan to record the finger prints of all workers from North Indian States, Mr. Sibi Chakravarthy said.

The idea, he said, was to prepare a comprehensive digitised data to depend on in case any problem arises.

Police officials explained that gathering the data has become imperative in the wake of most of employers failing to thoroughly investigate antecedents of the workers they employ.

The police had determined that most of the workers had been brought by agents based in West Bengal.

By collecting details of migrant workers, the police are keen to rule out scope for presence of illegal immigrants. Today’s meeting was prompted by a couple of incidents that exposed the possibility for anti-social elements to commit crimes in their State and escape notice by joining employment in industries in the district.

In one instance, a worker was found to be an accused in an attack that had taken place in a police station in West Bengal.

In another case, a youth was found possessing a gun without licence.

A case under Arms Act was registered against that person.

House owners must unfailingly make a thorough check of the background of the North Indian tenants. An exclusive team has been constituted for collecting details of migrant labourers, Mr. Chakravarthy said.

During the interaction, a section of industrial unit owners said they have been taking all possible measures to know the background of workers by insisting on family cards, driving licence, and other proof of identity.

One among them suggested that crediting salary in bank accounts was an effective way to keep track of the workers who were prone to shifting from one company to another on a periodic basis.