Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced a project for Bengali migrant workers forced to return from other states. “Shramshree Project” (Migrant Workers Scheme) will provide their job cards through a web portal. Announcing the project, the Chief Minister said that these returning workers will get an allowance of Tk 5000 per month until they are employed.
The Chief Minister said the “food mate” food assurance scheme andhealth rightsThey will also get benefits under the health scheme. The government will also take care of the education of their children. Ahead of the next year’s state elections, Mrs. Banerjee raised the issue of migrant workers, who are being harassed and driven out of BJP-ruled states. He said today, about 22 lakh migrant workers and their families in BJP-ruled statesvexatiousBeing victimized. He said that pre-planned attacks on Bengali migrant workers are going on in BJP-ruled states.
The attack intensified after the administration in Gurgram, Haryana, listed 52 Bengali migrant workers on suspicion of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and started investigating their background. The Chief Minister had earlier asked such workers to return, promising that the state itself would look after them.
Today, he said, “The workers working in other states are returning helplessly, being tortured, being identified as criminals because of their language. We have decided on all these issues. We have developed a plan to bring back Bengali-speaking workers working in the states outside Bengal and rehabilitate them. The project is named after the project. Shramshree (migrant workers scheme)”.
“We are giving Rs 5000 to Mamata Banerjee. You should immediately flee Bengal. Every migrant workers scheme earns Rs. Khushi, happy in Haryana, happy in South India. They will not come to Bengal for Rs 5000,” said Subhendu Adhikari of the opposition party in the assembly, BJP’s Subhendu Adhikari.