A migrant worker from Assam employed in a food-processing unit in Thrissur lost the function of a hand following a workplace accident. The employer met the hospital expenses. But after discharge, he refused to help the worker financially. His family took up the matter with the Labour Department, but it was not resolved. Next they approached the District Legal Services Authority, where language posed a barrier.
Kismat (Kerala Interstate Migrants Alliance for Transformation), a project of the Don Bosco Salesian House for the welfare of migrant workers, came to their rescue, and thwarted efforts to foil the case by exploiting the communication issues.
With the intervention of the Kismat district coordinator, the family was eventually able to secure a compensation of ₹2.5 lakh from the employer, and return to Assam.
Kismat has been able to make scores of such interventions in the past year to help migrant workers who are vulnerable due to language issues, alienation from the local population, and issues at the workplace.
Poor, unskilled, and exploited, they are unable to access rightful entitlements such as shelter, medical care, education, banking, legal support, and so on. It is here that Kismat steps in.
Help desks
Launched in August 2018, Kismat has 12 migrant help desks across 11 districts. From food and accommodation to wages to recreation, Kismat has assisted the migrants in leading a life of dignity.
A significant initiative of Kismat is camps for registering migrant workers under the State government’s Awaaz insurance scheme. Kismat has helped get ₹34.12 lakh from the Awaaz scheme as compensation for deaths and from sponsorship from well-wishers.
It has also facilitated settlement of 105 wage theft cases and helped in settlement of ₹61.92 lakh during the year. Awareness programmes on migrant workers’ rights, government schemes, labour laws, safety measures at work, financial literacy, and de-addiction are organised by Kismat.
At Pothencode, Kismat intervened as local residents refused to send their children to an anganwadi where children of migrant workers were admitted.
