The Ernakulam rural police have kick-started a drive to collect the details of all the migrant workers camping in the Perumbavoor and Kuruppampady police station limits.
The police officials said the department would convene a meeting of recruiters, labour supply agents and sponsors in Perumbavoor on Wednesday. The attendees have been asked to come with full details of all the migrant labourers working under them.
“Informal estimates suggest that the number of migrant workers settled in the region comes close to one lakh. There is no other way we can collect details about such a huge population in a short span of time, which is a crucial part of the ongoing investigation into the murder of a Dalit student in Perumbavoor,” said K.S. Sudarshan, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Perumbavoor.
The investigation so far has pointed to the role of a migrant worker behind the crime though attempts to identify the assailant have failed. Top officials with the Ernakulam Rural police attribute this to the high concentration of migrant workers in the region, majority of whom are recruited in the 1000-odd plywood units here.
“In some areas, migrant workers have outnumbered the locals and there is no way we can reach out to all of them,” said a top official, adding that the absence of proper documents is proving to be a major impediment in keeping tabs on their movement.
The plans to provide photo-fingerprint identity cards to them have failed to take off. “The large-scale presence of people from other States has also raised the risk of criminals choosing the place as a hideout,” the official added.
As per the estimates of the State Home Department, as many as 1,770 cases involving migrants have been reported across the State between May, 2011, and March, 2016. Of this, Ernakulam tops the list with a total of 660 cases and 374 of them were registered in the Ernakulam rural district alone.
