By IANS
Patna : Bihar has decided to issue identity cards to migrant workers in a bid to provide a sense of security to the thousands of people earning a livelihood outside the state, who are often targeted.
“The government is working on the proposal and will take a final decision soon,” Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi told IANS Friday.
The identity cards would not be mandatory for all workers and would be issued to those who apply for them, he added.
Modi in reply to a question in the state legislative council Thursday said that Bihari migrant workers were facing problems in the absence of identity cards.
Thousands of Biharis, mostly landless farmers, poor workers and a large number of skilled labour from urban areas, have migrated to various parts of the country in search of work over decades. But their numbers have increased in the last two decades in Mumbai, Delhi, Surat, Bangalore, parts of Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, and Haryana.
Bihari migrant workers have been targeted in Mumbai, Pune and Nashik in Maharashtra and in Assam in the last couple of months.
Modi pointed out that the existing Inter-State Migrants Labour Act, 1979, has many discrepancies and did not meet modern requirements, including the issuing of identity cards.
The state has asked the central government to bring suitable amendments to the Act to ensure the safety of migrant workers, the minister said.
Modi also said that the government has appointed an official of joint commissioner rank (labour department) in Delhi for better coordination with migrant workers.