The district administration has begun confidence building measures among migrant workers here in light of rumours of persecution of migrants doing the rounds in the State.
Three Hindi voice clips were recently circulated on WhatsApp among migrant workers by unknown persons with a claim that there has been killings of Hindi-speaking people in the State.
On Wednesday evening, District Collector K. Vasuki and City Police Commissioner P. Prakash visited a labour camp in Anayara as part of the measures to assuage the anxieties of workers here.
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The Collector asked the workers, who were gathered together in a hall, whether they had heard any rumours, without mentioning specifically the contents of the messages.
As it turned out, a majority of the workers here had not received any such messages. When the Collector prodded them further, on whether they are facing any other issues, some of them pointed out the lack of quality water. The Collector and other officials later checked the facilities at the labour camp.
The water in the common bathing facility was found to be unclean. The contractors were asked to take steps to ensure supply of clean water. The toilet facilities were found to be sufficient for the 160 workers here. According to a security staff at the camp, no worker has left the place in recent days.
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The workers were asked to enrol themselves as part of the Awaz health insurance scheme to be implemented by the government for migrant workers. Application forms for the same will be distributed among the workers in the coming days.
Data collection
Awaz is being implemented to ensure the proper data collection of migrant workers and to provide them health care.
Under the scheme, migrant workers will be given registration and an identity card. The target group is migrant workers between 18 and 60 years working in various sectors. Under the scheme, individual migrant labourers who join the scheme will be provided free treatment worth ₹15,000 from government hospitals in the State as well as empanelled private hospitals. Along with health insurance, accident coverage will also be provided. In case of deaths, the family of the worker will be provided an amount of ₹2 lakh.
Not yet heard
“Though the workers here had not heard of any rumours of killings, we urged them not to fall prey to the fake messages of threats being circulated in the social media and assured them that they were completely safe here,” said Mr.Prakash.
The rumours spread among migrant workers over the past few days had to the exodus of close to 400 persons, mostly employed in hotels and restaurants, mainly from Kozhikode and surrounding areas.