Mamata Banerjee directs officials to draft scheme for return of Bengali migrant workers
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In a bid to facilitate the reverse exodus of Bengali-speaking migrant workers , West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has taken steps to float a scheme and has directed Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, Judicial Minister Moloy Ghatak, and Migrant Welfare Board Chairman Samirul Islam to formulate a plan for migrant workers."We have to stand by people who are tortured outside Bengal. Around 22 lakh migrant workers are outside the state. Samirul Islam and Moloy Ghatak should sit with the Chief Secretary and hold a meeting and design a scheme to bring these workers back to Bengal. The migrant workers, who are willing, should come back to Bengal and work here. The Bengali migrants have residence here. Otherwise, I will set up camps for them. We should issue Swasthya Sathi, the health cards, to these people. They should be included in the Karmashree scheme of the state government, where we provide 50 days work," Banerjee said.The West Bengal government had floated the Karmashree project after the Centre stopped funds for the 100-days MGNREGA.Banerjee, speaking at an administrative meeting in Birbhum, spoke about how Bengali-speaking migrants in Gurgaon, Haryana, and other states are being tortured. "They are sent to detention camps. In Maharashtra, one worker has been dismembered and murdered. We cannot accept this. A child was also tortured. The Rajbanshis and Matuas are not spared.""A scheme should be floated. With economic development happening in Bengal, the migrant brothers and sisters should get work in Bengal. Officers went for training in Delhi. DMs must be more alert," Banerjee said.Amader Para Amader Samadhan is aimed to resolve minor issues faced by the people locally in their paras. This has to be completed by the second week of November. Monitoring teams have to be set up in the districts. "The DMs should have informed us that more than 1,000 people were taken for training in Delhi. The BLOs should make sure that no names are removed from the voter lists."Banerjee pointed out how Bengali-speaking people are tortured. "The Assam government is sending letters to Rajbanshis in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar. People are kept in 10 detention camps in Gurgaon. Rajbanshis, Matuas, Dalits, Tapashilis, and minorities are tortured in states like Maharashtra, Delhi," Banerjee noted.West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will also hold her first rally against "linguistic terrorism" in Bengal's Birbhum district on Monday, which she calls a "second language movement" against torture and harassment of Bengali-speaking migrants in BJP-ruled states.
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