Safe migration centres operational at Gumla

Soon centres at Dumka and West Singhbhum

Ranchi, April 20: The Safe and Responsible Migration Initiative (SRMI) launched its first “Safe and Responsible Migration Center” in Gumla on Wednesday. The center was inaugurated by the Labour Superintendent of Gumla in presence of  Assistant Director – Social Security, District Planning Officer, Shramik Mitras and members from SRMI’s Technical Support Unit.

The center will work under the aegis of the District Labour and Employment Office as a district level support cell to map migrant workers and their families within the districts in order to ensure maximum social security coverage for the migrant workers and their families.

It will also support the district officials in planning Information, Education and Communication (IEC) campaigns and conducting registration camps for workers across selected regions in the district. 

The Safe and Responsible Migration Initiative (SRMI) was conceptualised  out of the hardships, experiences and learnings from the migrant workers’ crisis during Covid-19 pandemic to instill behavioural changes and create safer channels for migration. It was launched by the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Shri Hemant Soren in December 2021. 

SRMI will work towards migrant workers’ welfare through institutionalising a safe and responsible migration policy framework in the state. Under this initiative, two more centers will be established in Dumka and West Singhbhum.

The Jharkhand government launched the Safe and Responsible Migration Initiative (SRMI) on Thursday to enable systemic registration of migrant workers for monitoring and analysis in the source as well as the destination districts. To begin with, the government will have two help desks—which will be known as ‘labour consulates’—in Ladakh Union Territory as well as in Kerala.

During the launch of the initiative, Jharkhand’s Chief Secretary, Sukhdeo Singh, said: “Human migration is a very complex topic. Our government is not against migrations. We also encourage it, if it is happening for good. But we saw a different side of this migration during the pandemic. SRMI aims to fill this gap.”

Between March 27, 2020 to October 31, 2021, a total of 9.66 lakh workers have returned to Jharkhand. A migrant control room also runs in the state to cater to the problems of the labourers stuck in different states and to bring back dead bodies of the workers.