In Punjab, employers step in to provide food, shelter to 13% of state’s migrant labour

As per statistics compiled by the SCCR, four out of 22 districts in the state — Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Sangrur — account for close to 84 per cent of the migrant labour in Punjab currently.

Punjab Additional Chief Secretary (Industries and Commerce) Vini Mahajan told The Indian Express, “We believe that government, administration in districts and the industry everyone put together played a strong and positive role to ameliorate the distress by providing relief in the form of food or anything else to the migrant labour. All sections of society recognised that it is just not humanitarian cause but also that labour has been contributing to the economic activity in the state. We recognise their contribution to the state and support them in their time of need.”

Part industry played

As per the SCCR report, in Amritsar district, which as per the data has around 2.25 lakh migrant labourers, 50,000 were provided shelter and food by the employers or industry till April 21.

As compared to this, the number was minuscule for Ludhiana with 670 migrant labourers out of 6 lakh such workforce in the district being taken care of by employers and industries in there, as per the report.

However, Ludhiana East SDM Amarjit Singh Bains said that migrant labour in Ludhiana mostly remained in their localities called “vehras” and have been largely being provided food and ration by the government, local administration and the NGOs.

Though, there were relaxations for the industry to resume operations, but given the rider of keeping the workforce in premises and ensure strict compliances to check spread of coronavirus, not many industries preferred to start the operations in Ludhiana.

Amritsar Deputy Commissioner Shiv Dular Singh Dhillon said that there were some big industries in the district which catered to the migrant population.

Referring to Khanna Paper Mill, Dhillon said, “The paper mill is one of the biggest industries in Amritsar district. It provides newsprint to the leading newspapers and employs a huge workforce which it takes care of. Amritsar district is hub of Basmati rice export from Punjab. (Rice) shellers are open and functioning. The pharmaceutical industry is open. Also, the government has also allowed activities in rural areas which also have sizeable migrant population. All such labour is being catered to by the employer and the industry,” said Dhillon.

By providing shelter and food to workforce in the district, industries in Hoshiarpur district catered to almost all the migrant workforce. Hoshiarpur Deputy Commissioner Apneet Riyait said, “We have big industries like Sonalika, Vardhman, Reliance, JCT, Century Plywood, Ludhiana Beverages, Quantum Papers and Hawkins etc. We ensured that they provide food and shelter and the wages to the migrant labour and ensure that they do not go back to their states like UP and Bihar amid the curfew and lockdown.”

As per the statistics, another district where employers ensured food and shelter for almost all migrant labour is Moga with 14,500 migrant labourers are being looked after by the employers. Moga Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Hans said the migrant labour in the district was working in rice shellers, brick kilns, focal points and other industries. Moga Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development) Subhash Chander said that there were 326 rice shellers and more than 100 brick kilns. “Each brick kiln has around 100 labourers. The employer wants to retain such workforce, so they have ensured food and shelter to them. Also, it is the peak time in brick kilns and would last till the end of June when the rainy season starts. Brick kiln labour does not generally move out, so a brick kiln is also acting as sort of quarantine place,” said Chander.

Efforts by state and NGOs

While employers are retaining and feeding the labour in several districts in good numbers, another chunk of migrant labour in the state is being provided food and ration by the state government, the NGOs and through the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). Over 30,000 ration kits, accounting for 17 per cent of total ration kits distributed in the state from March 31 to April 21, and nearly 4 lakh food packets — 43 per cent of the total food cooked food distributed in the state, were distributed to migrant labour in varying proportions by the Punjab government, the NGOs and through SDRF.

In Pathankot, which does not house any large number of migrant labourers as compared to some other districts, 12,861 were provided shelter and food. “In addition to the labour working in places like brick kilns and crushers, there were migrants from Jammu and Kashmir who were in the district for around 22 days and for whom nine relief camps were set up,” said Pathankot Deputy Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Khaira.

Khaira said: “Sects like Radha Soami Dera Beas and Nangli Wale Baba ji have been providing food to the labour in good numbers.”