1.5L MIGRANTS FROM
WEST, SOUTH ODISHA TO MISS VOTING
1
2
3
4
5
0
A large section of poor migrants in KBK and western Odisha are all
likely to be deprived of their right to vote in the coming panchayat election
as they are away from home in search of job in States like Andhra Pradesh,
Telengana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka etc.
Every year, around one lakh people from Balangir district alone
migrate to the brick kilns of Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Karnataka
to work there and earn bread.
The MGNREGA has virtually failed to arrest the trend of distress
migration and bondage, thanks to untimely delay in wage payment to
labourers. Moreover as the labourers get some fat amount at a time from
dalals/middlemen, they are unable to suppress the temptation and get ready to
migrate.
Besides Bolangir district, migrant labourers from different parts
of Nuapada, Kalahandi, Bargarh, Sonepur and Nabarangpur districts and from
other areas are also found in large numbers moving to other States.
According to a NGO estimate, while around 80,000 people have
migrated from Bolangir, it is 30,000 people from Nuapada district, 10,000 each
from Bargarh district and Kalahandi and a few thousands from rest of the other
districts totaling more than1.5lakh.
As per the estimates of a civil society organization, 2 lakh poor
people from western and southern districts of Odisha migrate every year to
different destination States over a period of six to eight months. 80 per cent
of these migrant labourers are from tribal and Dalit communities whose journey
start from October. They return after June of every year.
So, these people who are always being excluded from Government
social security benefits like PDS, enrolment with AADHAR and NFA, they will
again not be able to cast their votes during this election. Further, it will
exclude them from larger benefits from the panchayat centric development
process, points out a civil society activist here.
In 2014 general elections, the Bolangir district administration
set an example and brought back 2,492 migrant labourers from brick kilns
of other States thanks to combined initiative by this correspondent, then
Collector M Muthukumar and SP R Prakash. Letters were issued to brick kiln
owners of Andhra, Tamilnadu and Karnataka to relieve the workers during
election. However, this time there has been no such effort.
According to reports some candidates in the migration prone
districts are trying to call some migrant labourers to return home. But it is
estimated that this could succeed to bring back only 5 per cent of migrant
workforce or even less.
A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court in 2013 urging the
court to look into the problem and make necessary arrangement by issuing
instruction to the States to ensure voting rights of the migrants, says Umi
Daniel of Migration Information Resource Centre (MIRC) Bhubaneswar.
No comments:
Post a Comment