West Bengal government to open training centres in every district to upskill migrant labourers

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Kolkata: The West Bengal government will open training centres in every district of the state to upskill migrant labourers in various trades. The idea is to help them settle in Bengal for work if they so desire.

The decision to set up the training centers was taken to retain potential migrant workers and ensure the return of a section of the workers who had left Bengal for jobs. What accelerated the move was the deaths of at least 27 migrant workers in accidents outside Bengal last month. While 23 migrant workers from Malda were killed on August 23 in Mizoram following the collapse of an under-construction railway bridge, another 3 from Murshidabad were killed in New Delhi on August 25 while they were working at a high-rise building. One migrant worker from Malda was killed in Assam on August 28.

According to the preliminary decision, each and every district will have a training centre for migrant workers. Those centres will give training and certification in various trades like masonry, carpentry and house painting. Migrant workers will also have the option to learn spoken English and basic computer skills. Multiple training centres are planned in districts like Murshidabad, Malda, North Dinajpur and South Dinajpur, from where maximum workers migrate.

The West Bengal government plans to initiate the training once it readies an official database of migrant workers registered through the Duare Sarkar camps. Around 7.56 lakh migrant labourers have already registered with the government through these Duare Sarkar camps. Rough estimates suggest already 22 lakh migrant workers from Bengal work in other states while another five lakh work abroad.

“Once the database is ready, it would be easier for the government to identify individuals and the causes of their migration. The government has a plan to reach out to them and offer them the benefits of various welfare schemes,” said Samirul Islam, the chairperson of the West Bengal Migrant Workers’ Welfare Board.

Though the step to upskill migrant workers had been planned to keep them from moving out, the honed skills could even actually help them get work more easily in other states. Maximum masons and other construction workers in the northern and southern states come from Bengal. A certificate from a government-run training centre could offer them work under government schemes and major private players in construction.