Having sent around 6,600 migrant labourers to their native places within the State since a week, the Dakshina Kannada district administration may have to handle another nearly 5,000 migrant workers from outside the State if they wish to go back home.
Following the State government’s order to arrange buses for migrant workers from within the State desirous of returning to their native places, the administration had arranged 230 KSRTC buses for their journey back home during the week.
Dakshina Kannada Labour Officer Wilma Tauro said 3,600 migrant workers of the State in Mangaluru City Corporation limits had expressed their desire to go back to their native. A majority of them have now been sent to their places, mostly in North Karnataka. Tahsildars of respective taluks outside MCC limits have arranged transport to another 3,500 migrant workers of the State who wanted to go their places, she said.
KSRTC Mangaluru Division’s traffic officer Kamal Kumar said the division operated 142 buses to ferry migrant workers of Karnataka. Corporation’s Puttur Division had arranged 92 buses, said Puttur DTO Muralidhar.
Outside the State
Similarly, the district has about 5,000 migrant workers from outside the State, according to rough estimates by officials concerned. A majority of them had been working in construction industry, sand extraction and other non-skilled works. The government held a high-level meeting in Bengaluru on Friday to devise a standard operating procedure to send desirous migrant workers from outside Karnataka to their respective States. Once the SOP was in place, arrangements would have to be made for their journey.
Deputy Chief Minister in-charge of Transport Department Laxman Savadi on Friday held a video conference with senior officials and Divisional Controllers of State transport corporations to chalk out modalities of transporting migrant workers from outside States to their native places. Once the government decides the modality, RTCs would be tasked to ferry them, sources said.
