3 min readPanajiMay 2, 2023 08:09 AM IST
First published on: May 1, 2023 at 11:53 PM IST
CHIEF MINISTER Pramod Sawant on Monday said that maximum crimes in Goa are committed by migrant labourers, and appealed to contractors and employers to obtain a “labour card” before engaging them for work in the state.
At a Labour Day programme organised at Shram Shakti Bhavan in Panjim, Sawant said, “Every migrant labourer working in Goa should possess a labour card. We promised this in the budget… about providing labour cards. After committing a crime here, migrant labourers return to their state and it becomes difficult to catch them. If we see the ratio… maximum… 90% of the crimes in Goa are done by migrant labourers. Be it from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh or from other areas. I am not going into details of that.”
Goa DGP Jaspal Singh did not respond to a request from The Indian Express for comments on whether the police maintain data on crimes committed by migrant labourers or crimes as per domicile of the accused. A retired senior police officer, however, said no such record is maintained.
In his address, the Chief Minister said that two NGOs have been brought on board to ensure that all labourers are issued the cards. “The facilities shall be made available online soon,” he said.
Sawant said that once migrant labourers are registered with the labour department, the government will have a database of their respective addresses and it can help police to investigate or track any case if required. He said he has directed the Labour Commission to utilise welfare funds for the betterment and uplift of the labour community.
In March, after a 27-year-old employee of a resort, who hailed from Uttarakhand, was arrested for allegedly molesting and stabbing a Dutch woman tourist at a resort in North Goa, Sawant had instructed all hotels to obtain a “Goa labour card” for their staffers. He had also directed the hotels to do a thorough background check for any criminal antecedents before employing staff.
After two incidents of hotel staff attacking foreign nationals in Goa in March, state Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte had said that police verification of workers at hotels and resorts, especially those employing people from outside the state, shall be conducted.
In the Prison Statistics India 2021 report, published by the National Crime Records Bureau, out of 70 convicts in Goa’s prisons as on December 31 that year, out of 70 convicts in Goa’s prisons, 43 belonged to the state, while 19 were from other states while 8 were foreign nationals.
According to the report, out of total 481 undertrials in Goa, 227 were from the state, 193 from other states and 61 were foreign nationals.
At a Labour Day programme organised at Shram Shakti Bhavan in Panjim, Sawant said, “Every migrant labourer working in Goa should possess a labour card. (Express Photo)
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