Covid is past but it future-proofs this Jharkhand control room for migrants

“It began as a 24×7 helpline for lockdown-hit workers but has since become a one-stop solution to address the concerns of migrant workers and their families. In the last five years, we have handed over 11 lakh calls and resolved 66,831 cases,” says Shikha Lakra, head of Jharkhand’s State Migrant Control Room – a body under the state’s Department of Labour, Employment, Training and Skill Development.

In 2023-24, for instance, the SMCR not only brought back 74 Jharkhand workers from Cameroon but also helped them recover Rs 69.77 lakh in unpaid dues. “They were further enrolled in state welfare schemes to secure their future livelihoods,” Lakra says.

With 11 helplines — six landlines and five WhatsApp numbers — SMCR provides migrant workers and their families around-the-clock counselling, legal guidance, and help with labour law violations.

“The lines are multilingual, offering help in Hindi and well as local dialects such as Santhali and Angika. In addition, one can also register their grievances with us via email or Twitter,” she says.

Apart from spearheading rescue operations, the SMCR also deals with trafficking, child labour and bonded labour cases and helps migrants tackle wage disputes.

“It’s also a hub for information on labour laws and government schemes for migrants and unorganised workers,” Lakra says, adding that its skill training programmes are tailored to suit market demands.

The Safe and Responsible Migration Initiative (SRMI), launched under the SMCR in December 2021, is aimed at increasing social security and welfare coverage for migrant workers.

“It systematically registers migrant workers, monitors their data, and conducts awareness campaigns about safe migration practices,” Lakra says.

So far, the SMCR helpline has some 13 lakh registrations — 10.47 lakh people logged during COVID and more than 2 lakh since then.

Typically, after a migrant worker registers his grievance through the helpline numbers, employees at the SMCR contact the Protector of Emigrants under the Ministry of External Affairs or Indian missions abroad. The next step is to connect with the company that employs these migrants and negotiate with them. If this fails, legal action is taken, says Lakra.

Since its inception, the SMCR has facilitated the return of more than “nine lakh migrants to Jharkhand, including around 1,800 rescued from foreign countries” such as Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Dubai, Bahrain, Kuwait, Sweden, South Africa, and Cameroon.

It has also helped bring back the mortal remains of over 1,000 workers who died outside Jharkhand. For instance, the control room achieved its fastest international repatriation this month when it brought back the body of a resident of Garhwa district from Russia within a week of his death on March 14.

To date, SMCR has released Rs 13 crore in death compensation.

“The control room provides initial financial assistance of Rs 50,000 to bring bodies home for last rites. In addition, for deaths outside Jharkhand, the families get Rs 2 lakh for registered migrants, Rs 1.5 lakh for unregistered ones, and Rs 5 lakh if they die abroad,” Lakra says. “We also recovered over Rs 6 crore in pending wage reimbursements of 3,364 workers, which were being held by employers and contractors.”

In December, the SMCR helped rescue 11 young women hailing from West Singhbhum who were being exploited by a cotton mill firm in the Tirupur district in Tamil Nadu.

To help extend its reach, the SMCR has teamed up with various NGOs and government stakeholders.

But it’s not just migrant workers it helps – when needed, it also helps negotiate the return of other Jharkhand residents, such as students studying abroad. One such instance was when the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in 2022.

“As the war broke out, the control room tracked around 184 students stranded there and ensured their safe return home,” Lakra says.

Its responsibilities don’t stop there. The SMCR works with civil society organisations, government agencies, police, media and corporations to help run campaigns on migrant worker schemes such as e-Shram – the national database of unorganised workers. It also helps migrant workers know of their rights and entitlements under the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979, which regulates the employment of inter-State migrant workers.

“We’re constantly pushing to make migration safer and dignified for all,” Lakra says.

Sanjeev Besra, Labour Commissioner of Jharkhand, says: “Migration is a dynamic issue, and we have realised that the integration of technology is essential to keep up with ever-changing requirements.”

About the future of SMCR, he said there are plans to establish an IVRS system and a call management system integrated with the helpline number.

“Currently, multiple helpline numbers create confusion among migrant workers. We are working to integrate the multiple numbers into a single helpline number, which will help in more efficient grievance redressal,” the Labour Commissioner said, adding that a WhatsApp chatbot will also be integrated with the WhatsApp numbers of the SMCR.

For Teklal Mahato, one of the 47 rescued migrant workers, the SMCR’s rescue came as an immense relief from the distressing work conditions they faced in Cameroon.

“They (the Mumbai-based company) took us there promising a good salary, but we never received it… We were facing many other problems, which prompted us to make that video appeal. The Jharkhand government then rescued us,” Mahto, who now works as a daily wager in Nagpur, says.