Mamata Banerjee asks Credai to help bring back skilled construction workers from Bengal

On Monday, Mamata Banerjee requested the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (Credai), the industry's governing organization, to assist her in relocating talented construction workers from Bengal who had left the country or other regions.

"Districts like Murshidabad, Malda, and North Dinajpur have tens of thousands of qualified construction workers. For their skills in the construction industry, they are engaged (by agencies) outside of the country and even in other nations. They moved there in search of greater employment prospects, yet they are not safe or secure there. At a Credai event held at the Dhana Dhanye auditorium in this city, the chief minister remarked, "So, I will request you (Credai) to bring back those skilled workers who are currently working outside Bengal."
Mamata's appeal is significant since her administration is now making every effort to stop Bengali migrants from moving to other countries and to provide incentives for them to return after 27 Bengali migrants died in various states last month.

In addition to the 27, 23 migrant workers—all young people from Malda—were also murdered on August 23 in Mizoram when a railway bridge that was still under construction collapsed. On August 25, while working in a high-rise, three additional Murshidabad residents were murdered in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, after they touched a live wire.

A Trinamul insider said that the party had taken the matter extremely seriously since the BJP and the Opposition had been using the problem of migrant workers as a pretext to criticize the Mamata administration over joblessness in Bengal.

The West Bengal Migrant Workers' Welfare Board, a pioneering organization devoted to migrant worker issues, was recently established by the state government.

The establishment of industries inside the state is a priority for the state government. Small businesses are given particular attention in order to provide work opportunities and deter possible migratory laborers. An important state government official said that the endeavor is not just for construction employees but also for persons working in other industries.

In an effort to guarantee employment for migrant workers in Bengal, the state government would compile a database of people employed outside Bengal with assistance from the state's Duare Sarkar camps. A loan of up to Rs 5 lakh will be made available by the state government to migrant workers who wish to start their own company in this country.

"We will strive to draw them back to the state by making them realize that if they (migrants) work locally, they can save the money spent on food, lodging, and transportation. We shall keep pleading with them to come home, Mamata stated.

The chief minister promised Credai that her administration would as quickly as possible provide her a list of competent migrant employees. Around 47,000 migrant laborers registered during the first two days of the Duare Sarkar camps, with around 14,000 of them coming from Murshidabad. West Midnapore, Malda, and Nadia followed with 7,241, 5,464, and 4,572 migrant workers, respectively.

According to rough estimates, five lakh Bengali migrants work overseas, mostly in the Gulf, while 22 lakh do so in Indian states. Mamata, however, estimated that Bengal may have 50 lakh migrant laborers on Monday.

"We'll provide you access to the migratory worker database. If you are able to include them in your project in Bengal, it would be a very wonderful idea. You don't need to teach them as freshmen since they already have the necessary skills, Mamata said.

According to certain realtors from south and north Bengal, there are many times more people available than there are jobs available.

"In the case of north Bengal, Siliguri, Darjeeling, and Kalimpong are the main centers for the real estate industry. All of the construction laborers we employ here are from north Bengal, according to a Siliguri entrepreneur.

Credai's president in West Bengal, Sushil Mohta, said that the group will make every effort to grant the chief minister's request.

Credai will operate skill development programs for employees and utilize the databases of individuals engaged outside the state to attempt to lure them back to their home state by giving possibilities in our projects, he added. "We are facing huge shortage of skilled workers," he said.

But as one insider noted, achieving the goal will be simpler stated than done.

He claims that Bengalis leave their own country and other states in search of better paying jobs because Bengali salaries are too low to compete. In places like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, or Maharashtra, a mason who is paid between Rs. 500 and Rs. 600 per day receives somewhere between Rs. 800 and Rs. 1,000.

The head of the board for the welfare of migrant workers, Samirul Islam, stated: "Worker migration is normal, and lakhs of people from other states also work in Bengal. The prospective migrant workers and those who wish to return home are being kept on.