Pradesh Congress Committee president Niranjan Patnaik on Saturday urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to take all possible steps for rehabilitation and safety of migrant workers, who would return to the State in large numbers post lockdown.
In a letter, he hailed the Government's move of mobilising the gram panchayats to register migrant workers stranded in different parts of the country and suggested to the Chief Minister to make both long-term and short-term rehabilitation plans for them.
The PCC Chief said the workers should be given 200 days' work per year under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Scheme as a short-term plan.
Mentioning that the Government would need the help and cooperation of every section of the society in dealing with migrant workers, he suggested to the CM to build an inclusive alliance of all political parties, civil society groups, grassroots organisations, citizen associations and businesses to deal with the challenge.
He also requested the CM to support the demand made by several organisations for formation of a national taskforce to address the issue of migrant workers. "Such a taskforce is necessary because resolution of this crisis requires inter-State coordination at the highest level and seamless exchange of resources amongst States," he noted.
In case the migrant workers are asked to stay back at their places, Patnaik urged the CM to initiate an immediate cash transfer of Rs 5,000 to each of them as they are running out of money and not getting food.
If the targeted beneficiaries are about 5 lakh as the State Government estimates, it would amount to an outgo of Rs 250 crore, which the State can generously afford, he said.