Faced with a daunting task of providing local employment opportunities to the returning migrants, the Uttarakhand Government is working on a plan to link them with agriculture and horticulture sectors. The department concerned is said to have prepared a comprehensive plan which when implemented would help in finding employment opportunities in agriculture and horticulture for the returning migrants. The cooperative banks would be roped in to provide financial support to these people in finding self employment. Confirming the development, the secretary, agriculture and school education R Meenakshi Sundaram told The Pioneer that the plan would be presented before the state cabinet soon.
The migrants who are returning from different parts of the country back to their native places in large numbers have posed a big challenge before the state government. It is expected that the number of these people would be around three lakh when all of them return back to their homes in Uttarakhand in coming days. According to the estimate of the state government about 30000 people have so far returned to the state after lockdown was enforced by the union government and state governments to prevent the infection of novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) from spreading. An estimated 1.92 lakh people have so far registered for return to the state. The state government wants that a large percentage of these people should be encouraged to remain at their native places when the lockdown ends. The chief minister (CM) Trivendra Singh Rawat who has time and again advocated for home coming of natives and has emphasized on reverse migration has suggested that employment opportunities should be explored in agriculture and horticulture sectors for these migrants based on which the department has prepared a draft proposal.